Congratulations to Pervez Hoodbhoy!

by Salman Hameed

Pervez Hoodbhoy has just been appointed as a member of the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters by the Secretary General of the United Nations. Very cool and congratulations to him. Here is the press release:

NEW YORK, 19 December (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — The Secretary-General of the United Nations recently appointed nine new members to his Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters to replace nine current ones whose terms will end on 31 December. 

Beginning their three-year terms on 1 January 2013 will be Wael al-Assad (Jordan), Mely Caballero-Anthony (Philippines), Sung-Joo Choi (Republic of Korea), Rut Diamint (Argentina), Trevor Findlay (Australia), Pervez Hoodbhoy (Pakistan), Eboe Hutchful (Ghana), Fred Tanner (Switzerland) and Wu Haitao (China). 

The Secretary-General has also appointed a current member, Desmond Bowen ( United Kingdom), to chair the Board’s two sessions in 2013.  The fifty-ninth session is scheduled from 27 February to 1 March in New York, and the sixtieth from 26 to 28 June in Geneva.
Established in 1978 pursuant to paragraph 124 of the Final Document of the tenth special session of the General Assembly, the Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters received its current mandate pursuant to Assembly decision 54/418 of 1 December 1999.  The Board has the following functions:  to advise the Secretary-General on matters within the area of arms limitation and disarmament, including on studies and research under the auspices of the United Nations or institutions within the United Nations system; to serve as the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR); and to advise the Secretary-General on the implementation of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme. 

Chosen by the Secretary-General for their knowledge and experience in the field of disarmament and international security, Board members serve in their personal capacities and do not represent their Governments.  There are currently 15 members, and the Director of UNIDIR is an ex officio member.  The Chairperson is appointed annually by the Secretary-General on the basis of regional rotation, and personally reports to him on the Board’s sessions.  In accordance with General Assembly resolution 38/183 O of 20 December 1983, the Secretary-General reports annually to the Assembly on the Advisory Board’s activities.

And here is his excellent documentary, Pakistan and India: Under the Nuclear Shadow (I think this is from 2000 - only a couple of years after the nuclear tests of India and Pakistan):