Welcome to the full edition of the 2023 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook. The Yearbook, now in its forty-eighth volume, provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of recent developments and trends in the field of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control, including the relevant activities and achievements of the United Nations and other actors. The early-release preview edition, published last July, aimed to share key findings from the Yearbook at an earlier stage and provide a concise exploration of disarmament-related developments and trends from 2023.

Throughout 2023, disarmament advocates around the world demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of multiplying crises and threats, from the ongoing conflicts in various regions and the escalation of nuclear tensions, to the proliferation of conventional weapons and the emergence of new technologies with destabilizing potential. Recognizing the interlocking nature of these and other global challenges, the Secretary-General issued his policy brief, A New Agenda for Peace, in July. This policy brief offered action-oriented recommendations to help Member States to integrate the tools of multilateral disarmament—including measures to regulate, reduce or eliminate and destroy weapons—into an anticipated global consensus on tackling current and future problems. The Secretary-General also proposed that those tools, with their proven value in preventing conflict, could and should be used in support of broader efforts to advance our collective peace and security and achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs undertook new initiatives in pursuit of a more peaceful and secure world. For example, the Office launched the Youth Leader Fund for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, offering 100 scholarships for young people in dozens of countries to develop their skills as change-makers for a nuclear-weapon-free world. My Office also launched its Leaders to the Future workshop series, empowering 55 young advocates to explore how disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control are linked with other matters vital to maintaining international peace and security.

Such efforts, with their aim of nurturing a new generation of disarmament advocates and thinkers, might be likened to the seeds of the hibakujumoku—the ginkgo trees renowned for surviving the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thanks to recent efforts, saplings from those trees are now growing all around the world, serving as inspiration for the abolition of nuclear weapons and a future free from the scourge of war. It is my hope that the United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, as the definitive guide to developments in our field, will provide similar inspiration and historical perspective to all those committed to the cause of disarmament and the creation of a more peaceful and secure world for all.