September 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - Thirty indigenous representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Arctic, the Americas and the Pacific took part in the 2019 UNITAR Training Programme to Enhance the Conflict Prevention and Peacemaking Capacities of Indigenous Peoples’ Representatives. The intensive international programme provided advanced training in conflict analysis, dialogue, principled negotiation and reconciliation processes to indigenous representatives and leaders working to advance the rights and well-being of their peoples.

21 September 2019, Koge, Japan - 21 September 2019 was the International Day of Peace. On this day, at the geographical mid-point between Hiroshima and Nagasaki a special planting ceremony took place under the leadership of Mr. Akio Nishikiori - an A-Bomb survivor, long-time GLH Committee member as well as a dedicated architect for Hiroshima's revival. This project, to plant A-Bomb saplings from both Nagasaki and Hiroshima respectively on the two sides of the lake in Oike Park of Koge Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, was initiated last year. A bridge is also planned to be built across the lake connecting the Nagasaki and Hiroshima sites.

Together with our partners the Clean Cooking Alliance, UNITAR’s Humanitarian Energy team hosted the first ever gathering of practitioners dedicated to improving and expanding access to clean energy in humanitarian settings. The 2-day event took place in Ethiopia on 31 July-1 August and brought together over 180 representatives from 31 countries.

4 September 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - Strategy consultants from Simon-Kucher & Partners visited UNITAR over the summer to explore and assess new income streams for growth.

28 July 2019, Geneva, Switzerland – The Global Plan of Action Coordination Unit, hosted by UNITAR, has embarked on its first field project, together with colleagues from UNHCR Djibouti, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the German Foreign Ministry. To kick off the project, the team has developed a set of common objectives with major humanitarian and host government partners in Djibouti. They also assessed the current state of energy provision in two of the three refugee camps in the country, as well as in other premises used for humanitarian operations that support displaced people, such as food and medicine storage centres.

17-19 June 2019, Geneva, Switzerland - UNITAR successfully hosted a training workshop on “Parliamentary Monitoring and Oversight of Sustainable Development Goals” that promoted good governance practices among 16 Speakers of the County Assemblies of Kenya in their oversight and monitoring roles.

22-23 April in Kabul, Afghanistan - Afghanistan is full of opportunities for dedicated young professionals looking to help their country. In particular, women know that it’s time for them to take the lead and ensure that development initiatives extend to every single member of their communities.

It is with deep sadness that we learnt yesterday of the loss of Ambassador Abiodun Oluremi Bashua of Nigeria, a longstanding friend of UNITAR. Ambassador Bashua was traveling on behalf of UNITAR on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed tragically after taking off in Addis Ababa and took lives of 157 people, including about 20 UN staff as well as other experts, consultants, partners and travellers.

We are trying our best to fulfill our responsibility as an actor in the field of disarmament,” said Mosammat Shahahara Monica, Director (United Nations and Human Rights), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. “We will continue this effort and our leading role in the future, for the total elimination of nuclear weapons

Adopted in December 2015, UNSC Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security recognizes the importance of the positive contributions which young people are making for the maintenance and promotion of international peace and security. Maintaining and supporting peace can seem like an overwhelming task, especially for young changemakers. Prospective changemakers may be wondering, ‘How can I put the Resolution 2250 in practice?’, ‘Where do I start?’, and ‘How can I personally promote lasting peace in the world?’ Being aware of these challenges and dedicated to effectively address them, UNITAR has developed a free e-learning course on Youth and Peacebuilding (English, French) to provide answers to these and other questions, and to support participants in their efforts to make the world more peaceful, sustainable and prosperous.