Disarmament

In Armenia, the UN, led by acting Resident Coordinator Natia Natsvlishvili, is boosting support to national authorities to address the needs of over 100,000 refugees, who recently arrived. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continues to distribute locally procured core relief items requested by local municipalities.

Following is the joint appeal made today by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, calling on political leaders to urgently establish new international rules on autonomous weapon systems, to protect humanity, issued today:

With the catastrophic potential inherent in nuclear weapons hanging over the fate of humankind, the only way to prevent the use of such arsenals — and the Armageddon such an act would unleash — is to completely eliminate them, speakers said today during the General Assembly’s annual high-level commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, in New York today:

Cuts in donor funding have forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce its life-saving assistance for the entire Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar, where each person receives just $8 per month. WFP needs another $175 million to provide the Rohingya with full rations through December 2024.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, observed on 26 September:

Amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, defensive military assistance to Kyiv has continued while weapons and ammunition have been reportedly transferred to the Russian Federation Armed Forces, a top United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today, stressing that such actions risk escalating the conflict.

A report released today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partners is offering solutions to decarbonize the building and construction sector. The report says that the construction sector is currently responsible for 37 per cent of global emissions.

All efforts by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to organize the next round of consultations with Syria remain unsuccessful, the United Nations disarmament chief told the Security Council today, calling for Syria’s full cooperation to close all outstanding issues.

Amid the annual commemoration of the International Day against Nuclear Tests today, the President of the General Assembly warned that the world is closer than any other time in this century to global catastrophe and stressed the urgent need to enter into force the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.