LITHUANIAN COMPLETES UNITED NATIONS DISARMAMENT FELLOWSHIP
Lithuanian national Ms. Dalia Vitkauskaitė-Meurice was among the representatives of 25 countries completing the 2012 United Nations Disarmament Fellowship Programme. The participants were awarded certificates of participation by Angela Kane, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and later met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
The programme's final segment took place at United Nations Headquarters in New York, where the Fellows observed the work of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) of the General Assembly. The Fellowship Programme started in Geneva, and was followed by study visits to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna, and to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. Subsequently, the Fellows participated in study visits to Germany, China and Japan.
Launched by the General Assembly in 1978, the aim of the Fellowships Programme is to promote national disarmament expertise in Member States. Implemented by the Office for Disarmament Affairs and financed through UN regular budget, it has in the 34 years of its existence trained 858 public officials from 163 Member States.
