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UNODA’s Gender Policy 2021-2025 provides an overarching framework for the Office to facilitate progress on gender-responsive disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation and contribute to gender equality, human rights and the elimination of gender-based violence. The Policy outlines Office-wide goals, as well as roles and responsibilities for achieving gender parity, inclusion, gender mainstreaming, and other strategic gender dimensions across UNODA policies, programmes, projects, and structures. …

First published in 2017, the updated publication "The Biological Weapons Convention: An Introduction" provides its readers with a comprehensive overview of the Biological Weapons Convention. The publication covers the history of the negotiations and the current state of implementation of the Convention. It also explains the significance of the Convention in the modern world. …

While gender analysis has been introduced to address a variety of aspects of small arms control, it has received less attention in the ammunition-specific domain, especially outside of stockpile management concerns. To address the issues of unplanned explosions and diversion of conventional ammunition, there is not only a need to strengthen ammunition management policies and practices throughout its life cycle but also to ensure they are gender-sensitive. Following the release of a briefing paper last year, UNODA and the Small Arms Survey developed the report Gender-sensitive Ammunition Management Processes: Considerations for National Authorities, providing reflections on the mainstreaming of gender throughout the life-cycle management of ammunition. The report highlights practical suggestions for applying gender analysis to ammunition management, consistent with the Final Report of Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on problems arising from the accumulation of conventional …

Dear Colleagues, We are very pleased to share with you the second issue of our newsletter. The focus of this issue is on the external quality assessment exercises (EQAEs) that some of our partners offer for analytical (biological) laboratories on the UNSGM roster. In this issue, you will find general information on the mandate for such exercises and then overviews from the organizers of past, ongoing and upcoming EQAEs. You will also find more information about recently completed activities, as well as planned upcoming activities. Although the pandemic continues to impact in-person meetings, UNODA has organized and supported several virtual events in the meantime and remains optimistic that we will have in-person meetings, training events and workshops to report in future …

First published in 2018, and developed as part of a joint initiative between the Department of Peace Operations and the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the Handbook provides DDR practitioners with practical guidance to design and implement state-of-the-art disarmament and weapons and ammunition management initiatives as part of integrated DDR processes, including through the use of DDR-related tools such as Community Violence Reduction. The Handbook draws upon good practices and innovative approaches developed in the field, as well as relevant international standards and guidelines. This second edition reflects relevant developments at the policy level, including the launch of the revised Integrated DDR Standards and the new MOSAIC module on SALW control in the context of DDR, and ensures consistent gender mainstreaming as well as systematic integration of youth …

The UNODA Strategic Plan 2021-2025 provides an overarching vision for how the Office will contribute to the goal of general and complete disarmament, setting out UNODA’s core priorities over the next five years. …

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 …