Dear Colleagues, We hope that the New Year finds you all happy and healthy. 2021 was a challenging year for many as the world grappled with the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we take stock of what we were able to accomplish last year, UNODA is proud to report that efforts to strengthen the UNSGM continued despite these challenging circumstances. We would like to emphasize that we could not have made such progress without the strong support of our partners and friends. We remain extremely grateful for our training partners that adapted events and activities to virtual formats when feasible; the experts across many time zones that woke up early or stayed up late to join virtual table-top exercises and workshops; and our donors for their support and flexibility as in-person events remained on hold. In this issue, we’ve highlighted a few of last year’s activities in particular — UNODA’s briefing for Member States and virtual workshops for nominated expert consultants and qualified experts — and also provided an overview of other activities conducted in the second half of 2021. We are also very pleased to include an interview with Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack, an expert in microbiology and disarmament who presented at UNODA’s virtual roundtable discussion for qualified experts on her experiences leading biological weapons verification and monitoring inspections
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.
