Overview

  • The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM) was established in 1978 pursuant to paragraph 124 of the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly, and received its current mandate pursuant to General Assembly decision 54/418 of 1 December 1999. The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters has the following functions:
    • To advise the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament, including on studies and research under the auspices of the United Nations or institutions within the United Nations system
    • To serve as the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
    • To advise the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme

UNIDIR

In its role as Board of Trustees of UNIDIR, the Advisory Board reviews reports of the work of the Institute, including completed and ongoing projects, personnel and financial matters, and future plans. For further information about UNIDIR, see its website at http://www.unidir.org.

Sessions

The Advisory Board holds two sessions a year, alternating between New York and Geneva. The Board adopts its agenda based on requests from the Secretary-General for advice on specific disarmament issues and upon its own recommendations of items to be considered. The chairman of the Board rotates by region on a yearly basis and is responsible for the submission of a private report on the session to the Secretary-General. Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 38/183 O of 20 December 1983 (A/RES/38/183), the Secretary-General reports annually to the General Assembly on the activities of the Advisory Board.

Background

Membership

The Secretary-General chooses the members of the Board from all regions of the world for their knowledge and experience in the field of disarmament and international security. There are 15 members of the Board (see list below). The Director of UNIDIR is an ex officio member.

Chair

H.E. Ms. Selma ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI
Ambassador to Ghana, Accra
(Namibia)

Members

H.E. Ms. Leena AL-HADID
Permanent Representative, United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna
(Jordan)

H.E. Ms. Selma ASHIPALA-MUSAVYI
Ambassador to Ghana, Accra
(Namibia)

Mr. Corentin BRUSTLEIN
Director, Security Studies, Center Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Paris
(France)

Ms. Lucia DAMMERT
Associate Professor, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago
(Peru)

Mr. Lewis DUNN
Former United States Ambassador to the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Virginia
(United States)

Mr. Robin GEISS (ex officio member)
Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Geneva

H.E. Mr. Amandeep GILL
Director, International Digital Health & AI, Research Collaborative, Global Health Centre at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
(India)

H.E. Ms. Elissa GOLBERG
Ambassador of Canada to the Republic of Italy, Ambassador-designate to Albania, San Marino and Malta, and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations Agencies based in Rome
(Canada)

Ms. Arminka HELIC
Member House of Lords of the United Kingdom, London
(United Kingdom)

H.E. Ms. Marina KALJURAND
Member of the European Parliament, Brussels
(Estonia)

Mr. Anton KHLOPKHOV
Director of the Center for Energy and Security Studies, Moscow
(Russia)

H.E. Mr. LI Song
Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs and Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations Office in Geneva
(China)

H.E. Mr. Marty NATALEGAWA  (ret.)
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Jakarta
(Indonesia)

H.E. Ms. Margot WALLSTRÖM (ret.)
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Stockholm
(Sweden)

Mr. Abiodun WILLIAMS
Director, Institute for Global Leadership Professor of the Practice of International Politics, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University Medford, United States of America
(Sierra Leone)

H.E. Mr. Motaz ZAHRAN  
Ambassador of Egypt to the United States of America, Washington DC
(Egypt)

Secretariat

For more information, please contact:

Ms. Suzanne Oosterwijk
Secretary of the Board
Office for Disarmament Affairs
United Nations Secretariat
New York, NY 10017, USA

unoda-web@un.org

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