The 2024 Pact for the Future recognized youth participation as critical to international peace and security. Top: Young Latin American leaders gather in Lima in December to build a region free of armed violence through GenerAcción Paz, a collaboration between the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean and the United Nations Development Programme. Bottom: Participants in the Youth Leader Fund for a World without Nuclear Weapons during their inaugural study visit to Japan in August.
I am pleased to present the 2024 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook. For nearly five decades, this publication has provided an objective record of developments in multilateral disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. Now in its forty-ninth volume, the Yearbook continues its vital mission to document efforts by the United Nations, Member States and other stakeholders to advance international peace and security through disarmament initiatives and arms control measures. Its enhanced preview edition, issued earlier in the year, equips policymakers and the public with a timely and authoritative overview of the most salient developments in this field.
As we reflect on the past year, we face a sobering truth: the international security architecture, built painstakingly over decades, now faces extraordinary strain. The proliferation of active conflicts, the erosion of established arms control frameworks and unprecedented military spending all signal a regression in our collective commitment to peace and security. The rapidly accelerating pace of these challenges starkly contrasts with the deliberate tempo of diplomatic processes — a fundamental misalignment portending yet more peril for people and the planet.
Conference on Disarmament, 1st session
Secretary-General António Guterres attends the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 26 February to deliver his statement during the high-level segment.
20th anniversary: adoption of Security Council resolution 1540 (2004)
The Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 1540 (2004) on 28 April 2004, deciding that all States would establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and means of delivery, in particular for terrorist purposes.
10th anniversary: adoption of the Protocol to the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty
Fourth Review Conference of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons
Maritza Chan Valverde, President of the fourth Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations, briefs reporters on 19 June in New York.
First Youth Leader Fund programme participants adopt DeclarACTION
Participants of the Youth Leader Fund for a World without Nuclear Weapons showcase their traditional Japanese calligraphy with peace messages during their study visit to Hiroshima in August.
25th anniversary: entry into force of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention
Norwegian People's Aid representatives pose on the way to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention's fifth Review Conference venue in Siem Reap, Cambodia, during a march for a mine-free world on 24 November. Over 3,000 people, including deminers, joined the march.
Seventy-ninth session of the First Committee of the General Assembly
65th anniversary: adoption of the Antarctic Treaty
Herman Phleger, United States Representative at the Diplomatic Conference in Washington, D.C., signs the Antarctic Treaty on 1 December 1959. Paul C. Daniels, Alternate United States Representative, looks on (standing), and Secretary of State Christian A. Herter is seated at the back.
CONDENSED PREVIEW VS. FULL YEARBOOK
Preview edition: An advance and condensed version that provides an easy-to-read overview of the publication earlier in the year. Available in PDF and website formats in July 2025.
Full edition: Expands upon the preview edition. Provides more comprehensive information on the year’s activities. Available in website form in September 2025.
