Dear Colleagues, Welcome to our first newsletter! The newsletter is intended to provide the nominated experts and laboratories with information on the SecretaryGeneral’s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical or Biological Weapons (UNSGM), to update on recent or planned activities, to strengthen the readiness to deploy and to provide an informal forum for sharing experiences and knowledge related to the UNSGM. We start with a greeting by Izumi Nakamitsu, the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. In this first edition, you will find general information on the mandate and structure of the UNSGM as well as on the roles of expert consultants, qualified experts and analytical laboratories nominated by the Member States. You will also get to know one of your fellow experts and learn about recent activities supporting the readiness of the UNSGM. In recent years, UNODA has cooperated with Member States and partnered with international organizations to implement outreach and training activities. However, due to the pandemic, most of the planned activities in 2020 had to be postponed. Still, we remain optimistic that we will have more training and outreach activities to report in future editions.
Dear Colleagues,
We are very pleased to share the eleventh issue of the UNSGM newsletter, which covers the activities organized in support of the UNSGM for the second half of 2025. The UNSGM team at UNODA worked diligently to maintain the pace of activities in 2025. We are pleased to provide more details on these activities below, as well as an update on staffing for the UNSGM team to ensure the continued high standard of support going forward.
Dear Colleagues,
We are very pleased to share the tenth issue of the UNSGM newsletter. 2025 has proven to be another busy year for the UNSGM team. The first half of the year has already seen several training courses, a regional outreach workshop, and many other activities to strengthen the UNSGM – more details on which can be found in this issue.
This briefing paper provides an overview of the Global Framework for Through-life Conventional Ammunition Management (GFA) and explores its relevance and implications for the Asia-Pacific region. Building upon discussions held during the Informal Regional Meeting in support of the GFA—organized by UNRCPD on 4–5 December 2024 in Kathmandu, Nepal—and based on desk research and a series of consultations, the paper identifies regional opportunities and challenges for GFA implementation. The paper begins with a brief history of the process leading to the elaboration and adoption of the GFA.
