Office for Disarmament Affairs

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Occasional Papers is a series of ad hoc publications presenting, in edited form, papers or statements made at meetings, symposiums, seminars, workshops or lectures that deal with topical issues in the field of arms limitation, disarmament and international security. They are intended primarily for those concerned with these matters in Government, civil society and in the academic community. This Occasional Paper is a collection of High Representative Angela Kane's speeches during her visit to New Zealand in April 2014. The speeches she delivered at a range of venues provide a comprehensive stocktake of the prospects and challenges currently confronting disarmament and arms control efforts. Her balance sheet registers both progress, most notably in the field of conventional arms (in particular, last year’s historic adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty), and a lack of progress—especially as regards nuclear disarmament.

The United Nations Register of Conventional Arms was founded when inter-State warfare had, for a long time, been considered the main threat to peace and security. It focuses on transfers of those major conventional weapons that typically can be used in offensive military operations carried out across international borders. This publication offers historical information on the Register as a tool of transparency, as well as points to possibilites for its future development. It also presents facts and figures related to the Register in convenient statistical graphs.

The UN Seminar on “Implementing the UNSC Resolution 1540 (2004) in Latin America and the Caribbean” was aimed at raising awareness about the obligations and requirements of the Resolutions 1540 and 1673 (2006) and at increasing and facilitating cooperation and assistance in implementing them at the national and regional levels.

South Africa emerged as a shining example to the struggle for a nuclear-weapons-free world. With the voluntary dismantling of its nuclear weapons capacity, South Africa took its place in history as the first country to take such a step. This publication presents a discussion on South Africa's position and what it should mean to other countries with nuclear weapons capacity.