View source for United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs

{{Short description|Office of the United Nations Secretariat}}
{{Infobox United Nations
| image         = Emblem of the United Nations.svg
| image_size    = 120px
| name = Office for Disarmament Affairs
| map = ODA-Masthead-Transparent-en (1).png
| map_caption =
| type = Department of the [[United Nations Secretariat|Secretariat]]
| abbreviation = '''UNODA'''
| leader_title  = Head
| leader_name = '''High Representative for Disarmament Affairs''' {{flagicon|Japan}} [[Izumi Nakamitsu]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Secretary-General Appoints Izumi Nakamitsu of Japan High Representative for Disarmament Affairs – Meetings Coverage and Press Releases|date=29 March 2017|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sga1714.doc.htm|work=United Nations|language=en}}</ref>
| status = Active
| formation = 1998
| website = {{url|https://www.un.org/disarmament/}}
| parent_organization = [[United Nations Secretariat]]
| subsidiaries = UNLIREC, UNREC, UNRCPD
| footnotes =
}}
The '''UN Office for Disarmament Affairs''' ('''UNODA''') ({{langx|fr|'''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 [[United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly]] in July 1997.<ref>{{cite web|author=Kofi Annan |url=https://undocs.org/A/51/950 |title=Renewing the United Nations: A Programme for Reform (A/51/950) |publisher=United Nations |date=14 July 1997 |access-date=17 March 2017}}</ref>
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 weapons|chemical]] and [[biological weapons]]. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of [[conventional weapon]]s, especially [[landmine]]s 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 ==
[[File:Izumi Nakamitsu 20170518 (cropped).jpg|alt=Izumi Nakamitsu, the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs|thumb|[[Izumi Nakamitsu]], the United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs]]
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".<ref name=burr>{{cite web |url=http://www.abolitionforum.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IHL-or-nuclear-weapons_choose-one.pdf |title=Humanitarian Law or Nuclear Weapons: Choose One |author=John Burroughs  |date=2012 |work=Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821210752/http://www.abolitionforum.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/IHL-or-nuclear-weapons_choose-one.pdf |archive-date=21 August 2014}}</ref>
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) had originally been established as a department in 1982 upon the recommendation of the General Assembly's second special session on disarmament (SSOD II).<ref>{{cite web|title=Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Twelfth Special Session|url=https://undocs.org/A/S-12/32|website=undocs.org|access-date=17 March 2017|language=en|id=A/S-12/32}}</ref> In 1992, it became the '''Centre for Disarmament Affairs''', working under the [[United Nations Department of Political Affairs|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 [[United Nations General Assembly First Committee|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 [[demobilization|demobilizing]] former combatants and helping them to reintegrate in [[civil society]].
== Structure ==
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs comprises five branches: Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch (Geneva), Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch (WMD), Conventional Arms (including Practical Disarmament) Branch (CAB), the Information and Outreach Branch (IOB) and, [[UNODA Regional Disarmament Branch|Regional Disarmament Branch]] (RDB). RDB further manages three regional centers.
Branches and centers are organized as follows:
[[File:Organization Structure on ODA PAGE.png|center|800px|Structure of UNODA]]
== Activities ==
=== Conference on Disarmament Secretariat and Conference Support Branch ===
The [[Conference on Disarmament]] Secretariat and Conference Support Branch, based in Geneva, provides organizational and substantive servicing to the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the single multilateral disarmament negotiating forum of the international community.
=== Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch ===
The WMD Branch provides substantive support in the area of the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological weapons). It supports and participates in multilateral efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation of WMD and in this connection cooperates with the relevant intergovernmental organizations and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, in particular the IAEA, the OPCW and the CTBTO PrepCom.
=== Conventional Arms (including Practical Disarmament Measures) Branch ===
The CAB focuses its efforts in the conventional field (all weapons not considered WMDs, including small arms and light weapons) of promoting transparency and confidence-building, curbing the flow of small arms in regions of tension, and developing measures of practical disarmament. It is responsible for substantive conference support on the UN Programme of Action on small arms, the Arms Trade Treaty process, and the UN transparency registers. CAB chairs the UN-internal coordination mechanism on small arms, CASA.
=== Information and Outreach Branch ===
The IO Branch organizes a wide variety of special events and programmes in the field of disarmament, produces [https://disarmament.unoda.org/publications/ ODA publications] such as the Disarmament Yearbook and occasional papers, and maintains the databases for specialized areas such as Register of Conventional Arms, Status of Treaties and Article 7 - Mine-Ban Convention.
=== Regional Disarmament Branch ===
The [[UNODA Regional Disarmament Branch|Regional Disarmament Branch]] (RDB) provides substantive support, including advisory services, to Member States, regional and subregional organizations on disarmament measures and related security matters.
RDB oversees and coordinates the activities of the three regional centres:
: - UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC)
: - UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD)
: - UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC)
== High Representatives for Disarmament Affairs ==
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="4" |Former heads of UNODA and UNODA predecessors<ref>{{Cite web|title=A/66/380 - E - A/66/380|url=https://undocs.org/en/A/66/380|access-date=2019-05-13|website=undocs.org|page=42}}</ref>
|-
![[Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations|Under-Secretary-General]]
!Country of nationality
!Years served
![[Secretary-General of the United Nations|UN Secretary-General]]
|-
|[[Jan Mårtenson]]
|{{flag|Sweden}}
|1982–1987
| rowspan="2" |[[Javier Pérez de Cuéllar]]
|-
|Yasushi Akashi
|{{flag|Japan}}
|1987–1991
|-
|Prvoslav Davinić
|{{flag|Yugoslavia}}
|1992-1997
|[[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]]
|-
|[[Jayantha Dhanapala]]
|{{flag|Sri Lanka}}
|1998–2003
| rowspan="3" |[[Kofi Annan]]
|-
|Nobuyasu Abe
|{{flag|Japan}}
|2003–2006
|-
|Nobuaki Tanaka
|{{flag|Japan}}
|2006–2007
|-
|[[Sérgio de Queiroz Duarte]]
|{{flag|Brazil}}
|2007–2012
| rowspan="2" |[[Ban Ki-moon]]
|-
|[[Angela Kane]]
|{{flag|Germany}}
|2012–2015
|-
|[[Kim Won-soo]]
|{{flag|South Korea}}
|2015–2017
|[[Ban Ki-moon]]
[[António Guterres]]
|-
|[[Izumi Nakamitsu]]
|{{flag|Japan}}
|2017–present
|[[António Guterres]]
|}
== See also ==
{{Commons category}}
* [[Conference on Disarmament]]
* [[Disarmament Insight]]
* [[International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons]]
*[[International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons]]
*[[United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research|United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)]]
* Section on "[[Middle East Treaty Organization#Draft Treaty and Annual UN Conferences|Draft Treaty and Annual UN Conferences]]" in the Wikipedia article on [[Middle East Treaty Organization]].
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.un.org/disarmament UN - Office for Disarmament Affairs]
* [https://www.unrec.org/ UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa]
* [https://unrcpd.org/ UN Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific]
* [https://unlirec.org/ UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean]
* [https://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/salw/programme-of-action/ UN Programme of Action Implementation (PoA)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090923190626/http://www.un-casa.org/ Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA)]
* [https://treaties.unoda.org/ Disarmament Treaties Detabase]
* [https://www.un.org/disarmament/publications/ UNODA Publication]
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[[Category:Nuclear weapons policy]]
[[Category:United Nations organizations based in North America]]
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