In a proactive effort to combat the spread of disinformation pertaining to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear issues, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) conducted a comprehensive two-day in-person training session in Astana, Kazakhstan, on September 26-27, 2023, within the framework of EU’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence (CoE) Initiative.
Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) disinformation is defined as intentionally misleading and deceptive information about CBRN threats that can potentially cause serious political, financial, and physical harm to governments, international organizations, the scientific community, academia, industry, and the population at large.
In a significant step forward for the ATLAS project, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has successfully concluded the first train-the-trainers event held in Tunis, Tunisia, from 11 to 15 September 2023. The event, which was a key milestone of the ATLAS project, aimed to strengthen Tunisia's capacity to prevent chemical weapons attacks by non-state actors through enhanced intelligence-sharing and inter-agency cooperation mechanisms.
In today’s globally interconnected, technologically advanced society, science (and Chemistry as a sub-discipline) is fundamental to our daily life. While women continue to play an increasingly important role in the chemical sciences, they are still underrepresented in many important chemical safety and security functions.
The proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons, materials and their means of delivery represents a pressing threat to international peace and security. Actors involved in the financing of such activities look to exploit loopholes in the global financial system to move and raise funds to develop CBRN programmes.
UNICRI, in cooperation with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, administers the International Network on Biotechnology (INB), a global network of academic and research institutions committed to advancing education and raising awareness about responsible life science. The INB experts exchange views and possible actions to support governments and relevant sectors of civil society (including academia, research institutions, technology companies) with a focus on emerging developments in the life sciences and biotechnology.
Current and future developments of new technologies can have potentially far-reaching implications, changing the dynamics of security and security governance. Emerging threats posed by these new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, nanodrones, big data and autonomous technologies, need to be addressed in cooperative and innovative ways.
