Thanks to intensive demining in Cambodia’s Battambang Province, few residents in Rokha Kiri District have seen landmines in the past two decades, even though the country still ranks as one of the most heavily mined in the world. But following flooding that has killed an estimated 160 people nationwide since August, Mom Sokhum’s family had a surprise near their farm: an anti-tank mine. Although Mom was used to handling anti-tank and anti-personnel mines as a soldier during the country’s civil war, in the 1980s and 1990s, he said he was shocked to learn one had washed up nearby. “I haven’t seen them since [the war against] the Khmer Rouge,” he said, referring to followers of the country’s Communist Party who carried out a genocide from 1975 to 1978. “Although I buried some myself, it still made me feel faint.”
Good progress has been made by Japan in remediation efforts in areas affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, a group of United Nations experts have said in a preliminary report, while encouraging the Government to better communicate its decontamination goals to the public. The expert mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to review remediation efforts, which concluded today, is a follow-up to the first mission carried out in October 2011 in the wake of the incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in March of that year.
The United Nations General Assembly today elected Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms beginning on 1 January 2014. The five countries obtained the required two-thirds majority of those Member States present and voting in the 193-member Assembly. Elected in one round of secret balloting, they will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo, whose terms will conclude at the end of this year. The five permanent Council members, which each wield the power of veto, are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Non-permanent members Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda will remain on the Council until the end of 2014.
While there have been several noteworthy successes in the field of disarmament, there are still important areas where greater progress is needed, the President of the General Assembly told the United Nations committee tackling disarmament and international security issues today. John Ashe cited recent achievements such as the adoption in April of the Arms Trade Treaty, the convening last month of the first ever high-level meeting of the General Assembly on nuclear disarmament and the awarding last week of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “These many successes are laudable and noteworthy, and we justly celebrate over them,” he said in his remarks to a high-level meeting of the Assembly’s First Committee. “However, we must acknowledge that we continue to struggle in many areas.”
Research project Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons (Phase II) This project is concerned with providing greater understanding amongst officials of governments and United Nations agencies, as well as the wider public, of the humanitarian consequences of the detonation of nuclear weapons.
Two decades after having renounced their nuclear weapons arsenals, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine called upon the international community to redouble efforts towards eliminating all nuclear weapons. Abolishing all nuclear weapons is “the most ardent aspiration of mankind. … A nuclear free world is achievable,” Kazakhstan’s Barlybay Sardykov said at a First Committee Side Event held at UN Headquarters in New York on 10 October. The roundtable discussion, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations, focused on lessons learned and the prospects for nuclear disarmament.
On Thursday, 10 October, High Representative Kane met with a delegation from Gensuikyo, also known as the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs. The delegation was in New York at UN headquarters to speak to delegates of Member States on the margins of the General Assembly’s First Committee. Gensuikyo is one of Japan’s largest anti-nuclear and peace movement organizations. It was established in 1965 with a call for a total ban on nuclear weapons and support for radiation victims. The organization has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize several times for its tireless work in advocating the total abolition of all nuclear weapons.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for enhanced partnership between the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as the two bodies work together for peace, human rights and sustainable development across the region. “You have a tremendous opportunity to position the ASEAN region for the 21st century. The United Nations is proud to be your partner, and we value your openness in furthering this partnership,” Mr. Ban told participants at the Fifth ASEAN-UN Summit, held in Brunei Darussalam. He noted that the partnership between the two bodies is growing “broader and deeper,” and highlighted four areas where it can produce tangible results: regional connectivity; sustainable development; human rights; and peace and security.
As real dialogue replaced gunboat diplomacy, the world narrowly averted yet another catastrophic intervention. Syria opened its doors to international inspectors and committed to the destruction of its sizeable chemical arsenal. And yet questions remain about where, when and by whom chemical weapons may have been used. Is such a Herculean task even possible? Angela Kane, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, joins Oksana to discuss these issues.
Calling for an expanded United Nations role in the world, Turkmenistan today proposed hosting five international meetings next year – on disarmament, energy security, cooperative transport and transit corridors for landlocked countries, desertification, and refugees. "It is precisely the United Nations that is the main and universal international organization which adopts decisions concerning the most important issues of global development and comprehensive peace and security," Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov told the UN General Assembly as it moved into the second week of its annual General Debate.
The Arms Trade Treaty resolution Co-authors organized a high-level event to support progress towards the ATT’s entry into force and implementation on 25 September at UN Headquarters. The event was held to coincide with the annual General Assembly high-level debate. 22 member states, including the USA and seven countries from Asia and the Pacific (Malaysia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nauru, Kiribati, Philippines, and Samoa) signed the Arms Trade Treaty, bringing the total number of ATT signatory states to 112.
Senior United Nations officials today called on Member States to take renewed steps to rid the world of nuclear weapons, during what was the first high-level meeting ever held by the General Assembly devoted to this issue. “Some might complain that nuclear disarmament is little more than a dream. But that ignores the very tangible benefits disarmament would bring for all humankind,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at the meeting, held on the margins of the Assembly’s high-level General Debate. "Its success would strengthen international peace and security. It would free up vast and much-needed resources for social and economic development. It would advance the rule of law. It would spare the environment and help keep nuclear materials from terrorist or extremist groups. And it would remove a layer of fear that clouds all of human existence."
The third edition of UNRCPD’s flagship newsletter has been digitally released. The Newsletter highlights recent UNRCPD initiatives, including Peace and Disarmament Education and the new video ‘Learning Peace’, upcoming events including the Second Regional Meeting on the Arms Trade Treaty, news on UNRCPD’s 5th Anniversary in the Asia-Pacific, and many others events and highlights on UNRCPD’s activities and involvement in the region. The newsletter also includes regional peace, security and disarmament news and information, updates on the Arms Trade Treaty, and beautiful photos from the children’s Art for Peace Competition in Kathmandu, Nepal.
With UNRCPD’s support, Nepal is implementing a new model of delivering Peace and Disarmament education to meet post-conflict challenges – a model UNRCPD aims to bring to other countries in Asia and the Pacific in the future. To mark the beginning of the Peace and Disarmament education in Nepal, UNRCPD is premiering its new video, Learning Peace, at the commemoration for the 2013 International Day of Peace at the United Nations in New York City. With the theme of Education for Peace, the 2013 International Day of Peace will focus on the importance of education for achieving a Culture of Peace.
Tajik government officials, United Nations’ and other international experts are meeting at a European Union sponsored workshop to set priorities for Tajikistan to comply with its mine clearance obligation acquired under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, or Ottawa Convention.
Australia’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, His Excellency Mr. Gary Quinlan, has assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of September. The President is responsible for convening and chairing Security Council meetings, managing the agenda, and facilitating the work of the Council. The Programme of Work for the month was adopted on 4 September and will review UN operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Golan Heights. Building upon the momentum of the Arms Trade Treaty, Australia will convene a high-level meeting on small arms and light weapons, marking the first time in 5 year that SALW will be considered in-depth at the Security Council.
UNRCPD is honored to be a part of the Regional Workshop on National Implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention in South and South-East Asia, organized by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), through the European Union funded Action in Support of the BWC (BWC Action) and hosted by the Government of Malaysia from 3-4 September 2013. UNRCPD will present on ‘Activities of the UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific’ during the Regional Initiatives and Activities in Support of BWC Implementation session on the second and final day of the Workshop.
Since nuclear weapons testing began in the mid-twentieth century, with the first test on 16 July 1945, nearly 2,000 have taken place. There has been little consideration of the devastating effects of testing on human life, let alone the understanding of nuclear fallout from atmospheric tests. Early on, having nuclear weapons was a measure of scientific sophistication or military might. Hindsight and history have shown us the terrifying and tragic effects of nuclear weapons testing, especially when controlled conditions go awry, and in light of today’s nuclear weapons which are far more powerful and destructive Subsequent incidents world-wide have provided compelling reasons for the need to observe the International Day against Nuclear Tests – a day in which educational events, activities and messages aim to capture the world’s attention and underscore the need for a unified attempt in preventing further nuclear weapons testing.
