As part of the #Leaders4Tomorrow initiative by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), Almuntaser Albalawi participated in a trip to the United Nations in New York in October 2022. He presented his research project on advancing Disarmament, Non-proliferation, and Arms Control (DNA) education in the MENA region during a side event at the UN. The side event “Disarmament Education as a Solution to Peace” was convened on the margins of the UN General Assembly First Committee meetings on disarmament and international security and attended by representatives of member states, including the permanent representative for Germany, H.E. Thomas Göbel, and Chair of the First Committee H.E. Mohan Pieris.
Additionally, the program included meetings with Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and other UNODA staff from the WMD division and the Secretary-General's Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (UNSGM).
Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, the #Leaders4Tomorrow were selected from over 400 international applications received from 85 countries to participate in a 6-month workshop series and explore the role of youth in advancing DNA objectives.
Almuntaser Albalawi is a Doctoral Researcher in the research project CBWNet.