DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
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Following the revamping of its website in 2010 to include a new archive
of disarmament-related videos as part of the disarmament education site, in
April 2011, UNODA announced an updated home page with a new layout,
new features and a new interactive slideshow.
The layout includes a new UNODA banner, an easy to navigate
horizontal “dropdown” menu for weapons of mass destruction, conventional
arms and regional disarmament, as well as a new and improved calendar for
the latest disarmament-related meetings and events. Among the new features
of the website is the Spotlight feature, providing the latest United Nations
disarmament news with immediate updates, and a Twitter and RSS service
reflecting the latest content of the Spotlight section of the home page.
Exhibitions
The inauguration of the “Cities are not targets (CANT)” exhibit at the
Permanent Disarmament Exhibit at the United Nations Headquarters in New
York took place on 24 March. The new exhibit is an art piece of two columns
by artist Eli Elysee containing 1,024,820 signatures for the non-targeting of
cities and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Mayors for Peace collected the
signatures between 12 February 2007 and 26 April 2010. It is the first exhibit
that emphasized the importance of the partnership of the United Nations with
a global non-governmental organization.
A new disarmament exhibition entitled “Toward a World Free of Nuclear
Weapons” was opened on 11 November at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
This collaborative project had the following partners: the Government of
Japan, UNODA, the United Nations Office at Geneva and the atomic bomb
museums of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The exhibition consisted of text and
photographs that explained the history of nuclear weapons and what was being
done to realize a nuclear-weapon-free world.
Conferences, panel discussions and other information activities
The 23rd United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues took place
in Matsumoto City, Japan, from 27 to 29 July. The Conference was organized
by UNODA in cooperation with the Government of Japan and the City of
Matsumoto. The participants discussed critical and relevant issues related
to disarmament and security, and called for implementing the action plan
in the Final Document of the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. 89 Against the backdrop
of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the
discussions, particularly those on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, assumed
a new and pressing sense of urgency.
89 NPT/CONF.2010/50 (Vols. I-III). Available from http://www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2010/
index.shtml (accessed 16 May 2012).