What We Do

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security was created as the NGO Committee on Disarmament in 1973 by Homer Jack when he as Secretary-General of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP).

Our History

In writing about its establishment he said:

“For many years NGOs within the ECOSOC framework have come together under CONGO – the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Status with ECOSOC. However, only gradually did NGOs working in the field of disarmament associate with CONGO. To focus and magnify the impact of the small number of international NGOs on disarmament discussions and negotiations in Geneva the Special NGO Committee on Disarmament was established there by CONGO in 1969. Duncan Wood, head of the Quaker UN Office in Geneva, was one of its longtime leaders; another was Sean MacBride of the International Peace Bureau. As WCRP’s secretary-general, I dealt with this Geneva committee and soon realized the need to bring together a similar group at U.N. headquarters in New York. In June, 1973, commenced the first meeting of what became the NGO Committee on Disarmament.”

NGOCDPS Today

For more than thirty years, the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security has provided services and facilities to hundreds of citizens’ groups concerned with the peace and disarmament activities of the United Nations. Because of its distinguished efforts as conference organizer, network clearing house, newspaper publisher, and year-round UN liaison, the NGO Committee is viewed as a primary ally of the international movement for arms control, peace and disarmament, and the continuing body designated to serve this worldwide constituency.The Committee has a crucial and expanding responsibility to inform NGOs worldwide of the status of negotiations, country positions, major obstacles and opportunities, and to help NGOs transmit their expertise and creative proposals to the appropriate decision-making fora. This website can be your first stop for access to current UN issues on disarmament, peace, and security.