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The Geneva Forum
Building Peace and Security Partnerships

The Geneva Forum is a joint initiative of the Quaker United Nations Office, Geneva (QUNO), the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), and the Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP) of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

Our overarching objective is to contribute to international peace and security by building partnerships among and between governments, international organisations and NGOs on disarmament and arms control issues of common concern. The work of the Geneva Forum comprises three main tracks:

1. Building agendas around new and emerging issues in arms control and disarmament.
2. Supporting ongoing arms control and disarmament negotiations.
3. Promoting the implementation of arms control and disarmament agreements.

In carrying out this work, the Geneva Forum interacts closely with government missions to the United Nations, international organisations, NGOs and the media, and actively engages Geneva's important, humanitarian, development and human rights communities in its disarmament work.

Upcoming Event
Reports launch - Towards a unified agenda: Armed Violence and the Millennium Development Goals - 13 September 2010, WMO/OMM Building (7bis, avenue de la Paix, room C1), 12:30-14:00.

Policy-makers have become increasingly aware that armed violence undermines development and aid effectiveness, posing serious obstacles to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Today, there is a growing international momentum to include armed violence and reduction considerations in the drafting of development agendas. Doing so, however, requires transcending sectoral approaches to international cooperation and fostering collaborative efforts across the wide array of communities active in disarmament, peacebuilding, human rights, humanitarian aid and development.

On the eve of the High-level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly (20-22 September 2010, New York), which will review the progress towards the MDGs, the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform, the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development and the Geneva Forum will present two recent reports that bring new light on the relationship between poverty, armed violence and MDGs, offering an important opportunity for a varied audience of practitioners, scholars and policymakers to discuss and complement their findings.

To register for this event, please write to  gpp@gcsp.ch with your full contact details by Friday 10 September, 18h. (A sandwich lunch will be served in the bar area on the WMO ground floor from 12h.)

Recent Events
Lunchtime seminar - Legal and humanitarian aspects of an Arms Trade Treaty - 24 August 2010, Palais des Nations, Room IX, 13:15-15:00

Report Launch - Opportunities to enhance the BWC Confidence-building Measures - 25 August 2010, Palais des Nations, Room XXIII, 09:00-10:00

Lunchtime seminar - Synthetic biology: Engineering a safer future - 25 August 2010, Palais des Nations, Room XXIII, 13:15-15:00