United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs

The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) (french: Bureau des affaires du désarmement) is an Office of the United Nations Secretariat established in January 1998 as the Department for Disarmament Affairs, part of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to reform the UN as presented in his report to the General Assembly in July 1997.

Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts.

It is led by an Under-Secretary-General (USG) and High Representative (HR), Izumi Nakamitsu of Japan, who took office on 1 May 2017.

History

In its landmark resolution 1653 of 1961, "Declaration on the prohibition of the use of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons", the UN General Assembly stated that the use of nuclear weaponry "would exceed even the scope of war and cause indiscriminate suffering and destruction to mankind and civilization and, as such, is contrary to the rules of international law and to the laws of humanity".

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs had originally been established as a department in 1982 upon the recommendation of the General Assembly's second special session on disarmament (SSOD II). In 1992, it became the Centre for Disarmament Affairs, working under the Department of Political Affairs. At the end of 1997, it reverted to being the Department for Disarmament Affairs. Then, in 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte of Brazil as the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs at the Under-Secretary-General (USG) level and the department became the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Following the retirement of Sérgio Duarte in February 2012, Angela Kane, then USG for Management, was appointed as the new High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. She was the first woman and first non diplomat appointed to this position.

Mission

UNODA provides substantive and organizational support for norm-setting in the area of disarmament through the work of the UN General Assembly and its First Committee, the Disarmament Commission, the Conference on Disarmament and other bodies. It fosters preventive disarmament measures, such as dialogue, transparency and confidence-building on military matters, and encourages regional disarmament efforts. The latter includes the UN Register of Conventional Arms and regional forums. It also provides information on the United Nations disarmament efforts.

UNODA supports the development and implementation of practical disarmament measures after a conflict, such as disarming and demobilizing former combatants and helping them to reintegrate in civil society

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