Division 3.1.3 Project description

This project will follow up and expand on the activities and achievements reached under Project 5 of Decision (CFSP) 2016/51 to increase the number of qualified experts and expert consultants on the SGM roster who have been trained in the core skills required for the successful conduct of an SGM investigation, as part of a UN team, and under possibly adverse field conditions.

The project would allow the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) to expand the number of trained qualified experts and expert consultants, in order to ensure sufficient ‘reach-back’ capacity during a field exercise or actual investigation. Core competencies for training include evidence-gathering and handling, report-writing, operational security, field communications, negotiations and media-handling.

Timing and location of these training courses will be heavily dependent on the UN Member States that offer such training courses. The guidelines and procedures for SGM investigations, submitted to and endorsed by the UN General Assembly in 1989, state that ‘any interested Member State may designate to the Secretary-General relevant specialized training or courses available to qualified experts in support of their possible role on his behalf in carrying out investigations of possible use of CBT agents’.