Regional disarmament

Regional approaches to disarmament and to confidence-building measures have been applied by States to enhance their security and to address perceived security threats coming from their neighbours and others within their region. Although the Charter of the United Nations had envisaged a substantive role for regional organizations in promoting international peace and security, it was not until the end of the cold war that regional and subregional organizations assumed a more active role. The need for a regional approach to disarmament was stressed in two 1992 reports of the Secretary-General, and at its 1993 session, the Disarmament Commission (UNDC) adopted by consensus “Guidelines and recommendations for regional approaches to disarmament within the context of global security”. The three regional centres of the Department for Disarmament Affairs (DDA) provide practical support for these approaches in Africa, in Asia and the Pacific, and in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Related Subject(s): Disarmament