Ana Teresa Dengo, Costa Rica’s Ambassador to Austria, was recently elected to lead a U.N. initiative to work toward worldwide nuclear disarmament. From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, Dengo will head the preparatory commission of the United Nations Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
The U.N. block of Latin American and Caribbean countries proposed Dengo as a candidate for the post during the 27th session of the preparatory commission held in Vienna Nov. 13-16, and she was elected by a unanimous vote.
Dengo joins President Oscar Arias in decrying the global arms trade before the United Nations. A resolution pushed by Arias condemning “the absence of international, common norms for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms,” was approved by the United Nations Oct. 30 (TT, Nov. 3).
CTBTO, which promotes non-proliferation and disarmament, was created through a treaty signed at the U.N. Disarmament Conference in Geneva in 1996.
