Updates

Members of the UNRCPD and the Oxford Diplomatic Society

On 10 April 2026, the Oxford Diplomatic Society returned for a second time to the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) — and this time, the conversation went deeper. A delegation of students and young professionals gathered to dive headfirst into one of the region's most urgent challenges: disarmament. At the heart of the discussion was a question that grows more consequential by the day: what role will the next generation…

What does it mean to make the world a safer place?

For many, security is often measured through military capability, deterrence, and armament. Yet for many communities affected by conflict and nuclear testing, security is understood differently: the ability to live without fear, to build futures without the threat of mass destruction, and to exist without the shadow of nuclear weapons.

This question sat at the centre of the “Envisioning a World Free from Nuclear Weapons” Youth Arts Exhibition, presented at United Nations Headquarters during the Eleventh Review…

📢 UNRCPD is hiring! #JobOpening

🌏 The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) is looking for a dynamic and driven Political Affairs Officer to join our team for an initial period of one year.

📌 In this role, you will play a key part in keeping operations running smoothly across three core areas:

What unites a police chief, a military officer, a firearms regulator, and a transnational crime investigator? The shared objective of ensuring that weapons don't fall into the wrong hands.

With that goal in mind, eighteen practitioners from thirteen countries across the Asia-Pacific successfully completed the Fellowship Training Programme on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Control, strengthening regional capacities to prevent the illicit proliferation, misuse, and diversion of such weapons.

Held from the  16th of  February to the 6th of March 2026 in…

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), through the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), has launched a new publication marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), offering timely reflections from across the Asia-Pacific region on the past, present, and future of biological disarmament.

Titled “The Biological Weapons Convention at 50: Perspectives from Asia and the Pacific,” the publication was jointly prepared by the Government of the Republic of Korea, UNODA through…

25 March 2026 | The UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), in partnership with the CCW Implementation Support Unit (ISU), convened a regional workshop to support Asia-Pacific States in fulfilling their reporting obligations under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Building Transparency Ahead of Review Conference

Held virtually on 25 March 2026, the workshop brought together national focal points and representatives from High Contracting Parties across the Asia-Pacific region, just days before the 30 March…

📢 UNRCPD is hiring! #JobOpening

The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) is looking for a detail-oriented and proactive Administrative Assistant to join our team for an initial period of one year.🌏

📌 In this role, you will play a key part in keeping operations running smoothly across three core areas:

Are rising defense budgets building peace or limiting progress towards sustainable development?

The rapid increase in military expenditure is reshaping global security, peace, and development. The facts lie bare before us: in 2024, military spending reached a record $2.7 trillion, while the financing gap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stands at $4 trillion annually.

Against this backdrop, in commemoration of this year's International Day for…

As military expenditure reaches new highs globally, questions are growing about how security priorities are set—and what the wider implications may be for development and human security. On 5 March 2026, as part of the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness (IDDNPA), the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) will launch its 2026 Regional Briefing Series with an online discussion of the United Nations Secretary-General’s report on military expenditure, “The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a…

Youth Art, Dialogue and Skills Workshops for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Southeast Asia

Marking 30 Years of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (The Treaty of Bangkok)

BANGKOK - 15-17 December 2025

On the morning of 15 December, the halls of Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs filled with something one does not often see at disarmament commemorations: youth artworks.

Through the "Envisioning a World Free from Nuclear Weapons", a Youth Multimedia Arts Competition, photographs, films, and digital art—created by young people from…

To mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (Treaty of Bangkok), the Government of Thailand and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), through its Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), launched the Youth Multimedia Arts Competition 2025: “Envisioning a World Free from Nuclear Weapons”. The initiative is also organized through the support from the Youth Leader Fund for a World without Nuclear Weapons (YLF), as a regional component of that programme, funded by the…

Guangzhou, China — 20 November 2025.

From 18 to 20 November, government officials and technical experts from across Southeast Asia convened in Guangzhou for the Second Regional Workshop on Implementing the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and Promoting Biosafety and Biosecurity in Southeast Asia. The workshop was co-hosted by the Governments of China and Malaysia, with support from the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) through the BWC Implementation Support Unit (BWC-ISU) and the Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (…

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies is fundamentally reshaping global security, and the Asia-Pacific region finds itself at the heart of this transformation. Home to some of the world’s most dynamic hubs of innovation, the region is driving breakthroughs with enormous potential for sustainable development. Yet these rapid advances also bring critical security challenges that demand urgent attention. This combination of innovation and vulnerability positions Asia-Pacific States as both stakeholders and potential norms setters in shaping…

Disarmament is not just about eliminating weapons; it’s about shifting narratives of power, peace, and people,” wrote one participant from India. For another participant from South Africa, the key lesson was that “it’s not weapons that have brought about peace in the world, but the actions of people moving conversations forward.” From Nepal to Timor-Leste, from Fiji to South Africa, voices from the Disarmament Toolkit 2025 echoed the same truth: young people are not just the future of disarmament—they are already shaping its present, bringing urgency,…

Port Moresby, 7–8 August 2025 – The Government of Papua New Guinea (GoPNG) and the United Nations, through the SALIENT initiative, took a major step forward in their joint efforts to address armed violence and illicit small arms proliferation. The two-day National Workshop on Small Arms Control brought together senior government leaders, members of Parliament, diplomatic representatives, civil society organizations and technical experts to consolidate progress and chart the way forward.

SALIENT in Papua New Guinea…

From 19 to 23 May 2025, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) travelled to Suva, Fiji. UNRCPD, in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs (MoDVA) of Fiji and with support from the European Union, conducted a national training and assessment mission in Suva to support the implementation of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) and its International Tracing Instrument (ITI). The UNRCPD team was joined by experts from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG)—including the Regional Director for Asia…

On 16 April 2025, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) had the pleasure of welcoming a delegation from the Oxford Diplomatic Society to UN House in Kathmandu, as part of the Society’s 10-day visit to Nepal.

The delegation, comprising graduate students and professionals from diverse academic and career backgrounds, visited UNRCPD to gain a deeper understanding of the United Nations’ disarmament efforts and the Centre’s contribution to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. The session featured a comprehensive…

Advancing its regional disarmament and cooperation efforts, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD) undertook two back-to-back missions to Cambodia, reinforcing its partnership with the country’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) and expanding collaboration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

From 18 to 20 March 2025, UNRCPD conducted a series of high-level meetings with senior officials of Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior in Phnom Penh. The meetings were chaired by senior officials of the Ministry of…

On the occasion of two important anniversaries—30 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and 25 years since the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1325—Kathmandu served as the centre of an important regional dialogue. These milestones offered renewed momentum to advance the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and arms control frameworks as interconnected pillars of human security.  The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), in collaboration with the Government of Nepal, convened an Informal Regional…

Biological weapons use disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill humans, animals or plants.They can be deadly and highly contagious causing humanitarian, environmental and economic consequences. Diseases caused by such weapons would not confine themselves to national borders and could spread rapidly around the world, to devastating effect. The consequences of the deliberate release of biological agents or toxins by State or non-State actors could be dramatic. In addition to the tragic loss of lives, such events could cause food shortages, environmental catastrophes, devastating…