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From its creation on the eve of the nuclear age, the
United Nations recognized
that peace and security for all peoples would only be possible through
disarmament. Article 26 of the United
Nations Charter calls for "the establishment and maintenance
of international peace and security with the least diversion for
armaments of the world's human and economic resources". The
first resolution adopted in the General Assembly, only a few months
after the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, established the Atomic
Energy Commission to eliminate atomic and other weapons of mass
destruction and to promote the peaceful use of the atom.
Since these early endeavours, the United Nations has
developed several mechanisms to address disarmament and security,
including the First
Committee, the Office
for Disarmament Affairs, the Secretary-General's
Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, the Conference
on Disarmament, as well as occasional venues such as Special
Sessions on Disarmament of the General Assembly.
At the First Special Session of the United
Nations General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament in 1978, the
Government of France proposed the creation of a United Nations institute
for sustained, forward-looking research and study activity in the
field of disarmament to promote informed participation by all states
in arms control and reduction. In 1980, the United Nations Institute
for Disarmament Research started its work. For over two decades,
UNIDIR has produced relevant and policy-oriented research on topics
as diverse as nuclear materials, confidence-building measures in
South Asia, control of small arms ammunition, the security of refugee
camps, disarmament as humanitarian action, peace-keeping, remote
sensing technologies in the service of peace and disarmament —
to name a few.
UNIDIR provides the Member States of the United Nations
with objective research and creative thinking on disarmament and
security. UNIDIR works in close cooperation with the Department
for Disarmament Affairs and other parts of the United Nations Secretariat,
as well as governments, research organizations, universities and
NGOs.
On the occasion of UNIDIR's twentieth anniversary,
seventy-four United Nations Member States co-sponsored a General
Assembly resolution recognizing the importance and quality of work
of the Institute, and encouraging governments and the United Nations
to continue to support its endeavours.
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