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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.
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