Introduction
In honor of Hans Blix and his belief in creating a world where people everywhere enjoy peace and security, we are conducting a global essay competition for high school, college and university students. The objective of the online global essay competition is to encourage students from all over the world to speak up on issues of peace and disarmament, and for the full diversity of their hopes and fears, ideas and solutions, to be heard.
Background
In 1950, a young Hans Blix was the winner of an essay competition conducted by the World Federation of UNAs. His prize was a trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he was inspired to pursue a career in international law. He did just that and more, in a very distinguished career that included Foreign Minister of Sweden, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Executive Chairman of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), and most recently, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission.
This Commission recently issued the "Weapons of Terror - Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons" report on June 1st seeking renewed multilateral efforts by the entire world community towards disarmament, with the ultimate aim of outlawing all weapons of mass destruction. It provides 60 specific recommendations. The most important steps are: to agree on general principles of action, reduce the danger of present arsenals, prevent proliferation, and work towards outlawing weapons of mass destruction altogether.
The WMDC report can be downloaded in full at: http://www.wmdcommission.org/files/Weapons_of_Terror.pdf
Events
In order to inspire other young people, WFUNA has organized several scholastic competitions over the years. For more information about those events, please visit the links below.
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