UN Disarmement Basic Guide 2001

DISARMAMENT
A Basic Guide
by
Bhaskar Menon
asdf
United Nations • New York, 2001
NOTE
The Department for Disarmament Affairs is publishing this Basic Guide

in collaboration with the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Inc. pursuant to the
purposes of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme
(UNDIP). The mandate of the Programme is to inform, educate and to generate
public understanding of the importance of multilateral action, and support for it,
in the field of arms limitation and disarmament. The Guide is intended for the
general reader, but may be also useful for the disarmament educator or trainer.
The Guide was written by Bhaskar Menon for the NGO Committee on
Disarmament, with cover design by Bertha Ortiz of the Department for
Disarmament Affairs.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect
those of the United Nations or of the members of the NGO Committee on
Disarmament.
Material appearing in the Guide may be reprinted without permission,
provided that the credit is given to the author and to the United Nations.
Department for Disarmament Affairs

MDI Branch, Room S-3151
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.un.org/Depts/dda/
The NGO Committee on Disarmament

The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) Committee on
Disarmament, Inc. was established in 1972 as a non-profit entity to provide a
coherent interface between hundreds of peace and disarmament NGOs and the
United Nations. The role has grown in importance since the end of the cold war,
a period when the public profile of global peace and security concerns has been
de-emphasized by Governments. The NGO Committee is a clearinghouse of
information for a worldwide network of activists. It publishes Disarmament
Times, the only paper that regularly reports on and puts into meaningful context,
the whole range of disarmament issues before the United Nations.
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
I Why Do We Need Disarmament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II Changing Concepts of Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
III Arms Expenditures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
IV The Weapons of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Nuclear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chemical . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Biological & Toxin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Missiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Conventional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
V The Non-Proliferation Treaty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
VI An Arms-Related Chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
VII The United Nations and Disarmament . . . . . . . . . . 50
VIII Getting Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
iii
FOREWORD
Arms control and disarmament issues are critical

to the peace and welfare of our world, but all too often
people feel that they can be understood only by “experts”.
The main reason for this is that the issues are almost
always couched in jargon.
The booklet shows that this need not be so. It

explains basic disarmament issues in terms that not only
adults but also high school students can understand. It also
has a valuable list of non-governmental contacts which
will allow those interested to get more information. The
Department for Disarmament Affairs welcomes the
initiative of the NGO Committee on Disarmament in
producing this booklet and is pleased to support it.
JAYANTHA DHANAPALA
Under-Secretary-General for
Disarmament Affairs
v
Disarmament: A Basic Guide
Why Do We Need Disarmament?

The nature and implements of war have changed more
dramatically in the last 100 years than in all of preceding
human history. Before the 20th century, few countries
maintained armies of more than 50,000, and they were
armed with weapons that limited damage to the immediate
vicinity of conflict. Although war has always been a barba-
rous activity that took a significant collateral civilian toll,
the majority of those killed and wounded in pre-20th
century conflicts were active combatants. In 19th century
Europe with its mercenary soldiery, when the economic and
political benefits of victory could outweigh costs, war was
seen as a rational and indeed, necessary instrument of State
policy. As the Prussian strategist, Carl von Clausewitz put
it, war was “a continuation of policy, carried out by other
means.”
Armed to the Teeth is a new United Nations documentary that tells

of the menace of small arms and light weapons.
1
20th Century
In contrast, 20th century wars have been struggles
encompassing entire societies. As weapons with ever more
indiscriminate destructive power came into use — long
range artillery, the bomber, the intercontinental ballistic
missile, chemical, bacteriological and nuclear weapons —
battlefields expanded till they quite lost their original
meaning. Entire countries and regions were embattled. In
the Second World War, unarmed merchant shipping became
game for submarines and terror bombing of populous cities
was routine, culminating in the use of nuclear weapons on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Massive Death Tolls
As a result of these developments, the 20th century
was the most militarized and bloodiest period of human
history. There were 63,000,000 soldiers engaged in the First
World War, and it left 10 million dead. For the Second
World War 107,000,000 soldiers were mobilized and its toll
was so enormous that there are only estimates of the dead
— anywhere from 30 to 60 million.
Although most conflicts since the Second World War
have been fought without heavy weaponry, their toll has
been staggering. Wars of national liberation, the proxy wars
of the Cold War period and the current “resource wars” of
Africa are estimated to have killed some 100 million
people.
Prohibitive Costs
The cost of modern conflict is prohibitive. The Second
World War cost between one and four trillion dollars.
2
Property damage in the Soviet Union was put at $485

billion. The French government estimated losses in the rest
of Europe at $259 billion. Those figures were dwarfed by
the global military expenditures of the Cold War period.
Propelled by an arms race between East and West, they had
reached $1,000 billion annually by the mid 1980s.
Since the end of the Cold War (the 1989 fall of the
Berlin Wall serving as a marker of that event), arms expen-
ditures and the stocks of the most deadly weapons have
declined. But governments continue to maintain peacetime
armies and arsenals of unprecedented magnitude. At the
end of the 20th century, global arms expenditures were
estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI) at some $750 billion annually. After a
post Cold War decline, they are increasing again.
Current Scene
As we begin the 21st century, the world is awash with
weapons for which there is no rational need. There are
some 30,000 nuclear weapons still in the arsenals of the
major Powers, many of them on “hair-trigger” alert. That
means decisions about their use can be made in a matter of
minutes if warning systems — which can be misread —
indicate that a missile attack is under way.
Till 1998, there were five declared nuclear-weapon-
States: China, France, Russian Federation, United King-
dom, United States. In 1998, India and Pakistan conducted
nuclear tests and the former claimed the status of a
nuclear-weapon-State. Israel is generally believed to be an
undeclared nuclear-weapon State. South Africa and Iraq
3
had clandestine nuclear-weapons development programs;

the former abandoned it voluntarily, the latter was forced to
do so by the UN Security Council. Some other States are
suspected to have secret programs to develop nuclear
weapons.
Chemical weapons also continued to be maintained in
the arsenals of a number of countries. Biological weapons,
though banned by international agreement, could be in
secret national stockpiles. Meanwhile, the proliferation of
small arms and light weapons — an estimated 500 million
are now in circulation — has made them massively destruc-
tive.
Need for Change
None of this makes economic or political sense in a
period that is characterized above all by trends that link all
societies in a web of interrelated and shared economic and
social interests, endorsed at the highest level by the world’s
governments. (Most recently in the Millennium Declaration
of the Heads of State and Government at the UN General
Assembly summit, in September 2000.) While there is an
obvious and legitimate need to maintain international and
national security, the pattern of current military doctrines,
expenditures and priorities needs a comprehensive reassess-
ment from the perspective of a globalizing world.
Two aspects of the picture need particular attention.
One is the elimination of weapons of mass destruction,
especially nuclear weapons. The other is the rechanneling
of military expenditures to economic and social areas.
Military expenditures now siphon resources away from
4
social programs that are desperately needed in countries

around the world, including the most affluent. They profit
small and powerful elites, while affecting negatively the
rest of society.
Many non-governmental groups are working for
change. In the age of the Internet and the World Wide Web,
they are increasingly effective in telling people about
current realities and mobilizing democratic action in sup-
port of change. In these pages we look at the basic concepts
and issues that must be understood if you are to participate
in that effort.
A cartoonist’s hope:
that the founding of the
League of Nations
would muzzle for ever
the dog of war.
5
Changing Concepts of Security

International security is a condition in which States are
free to pursue their own development and progress without
danger of military attack, political pressure or economic
coercion. The perception of how near or far States are from
that ideal condition defines all efforts at disarmament.
In seeking security, States have been generally guided
by the conventional wisdom that those who want peace
should prepare for war. Traditionally, that has meant main-
taining enough military strength, either singly or in alliance
with other States, to deter or defeat attack. The result of this
approach is inescapable volatility, for the security of one
State or alliance is a condition of insecurity for others and
thus subject to constant challenge and change.
United Nations
The United Nations represents an effort to replace
balance-of-power politics with the concept of “collective
security.” Under the UN Charter, member States pledge
not to use armed force except in the common interest, and
if that becomes necessary, to do so only under the auspices
of the Security Council.
For over four decades the UN did not work as planned
because of the “Cold War.” Ideologically opposed military
alliances led by the United States and the Soviet Union
sought security in dominance, which they pursued through
subversion, conduct of “proxy wars” and a prolonged
“arms race.” Huge stocks of nuclear, chemical and bacte-
6
riological weapons were built up during the Cold War, and

long-range delivery systems developed. Submarines and
bombers on constant patrol and intercontinental ballistic
missiles, all armed with nuclear weapons, made cataclysmic
war possible at very short notice. Under such conditions,
international security depended on a balance of terror at the
prospect of “Mutual Assured Destruction” (MAD). During
that period, most developing countries sought their own
security in the Non-Aligned Movement, which called for
disarmament and peaceful coexistence.
Post Cold War
The end of the Cold War removed a primary source of
insecurity in the world, but it left a legacy of massive
military expenditures and arsenals of deadly weapons
entirely disproportionate to any rational assessment of
threats to security. In fact, a major threat to international
security now comes from the existence of those arsenals,
and military doctrines that continue to give weapons of
mass destruction a central role. This is largely because the
political/economic power structures of the Cold War remain
in place and continue to benefit from military expenditures.
They have the power to shape international events in ways
that validate military prescriptions for security.
In addition to the legacy of the Cold War, there are
many other sources of international tension. Among the
most important are major economic, social and political
inequalities among the world’s people. The emergence of
new centers of political and economic power, competition
for resources, continuing trade imbalances, volatile finan-
7
cial flows, demographic changes and environmental degra-

dation, all pose unprecedented challenges to security. Over
the last five decades it has become clear to governments —
in part because of a series of major UN conferences — that
these security challenges cannot be dealt with in traditional
ways. The only way to address them effectively is, in fact,
by making human security — the welfare of individuals
and families — a central concern of policy.
Economic and social development, basic human
rights, environmental protection and good governance are
now the essential underpinning of the security of States.
Disarmament today is important not only to reduce the risk
of war and dismantle the dangerous legacy of the Cold War,
but to prevent the continued waste of human and material
resources that are needed for much more productive and
beneficial ends.
8
Arms Expenditures
Declines in global military expenditures and arms
production since the end of the Cold War seem to have
bottomed out, and expenditures may be headed back up.
Arms production has been level since 1995. The details:
Arms expenditures have fallen by about one-third in
the last decade, reflecting cuts in every region except Asia
(where the trend has gone the other way, up 27 per cent
since 1989). The number of military personnel has been
reduced by about 6 million and there have been cuts in both
production and stockpiles of weapons. The United States
which accounts for
about a third of the
world total, has
dropped its spending
by a third. However, a
6-year defense plan
presented in 1999
projects a return to
growth.
The Russian
Federation’s expendi-
tures on arms has
fallen precipitously: in
1998 it amounted to
one-fifth of that of the
Soviet Union ten years
earlier. The fall is even A panel from a new Disarmament
more dramatic if the Exhibit at the United Nations
9
combined military expenditure of all the states that made

up the Soviet Union is considered. In 1998, it was only 6%
of their 1989 expenditure.
West European military expenditure has fallen by 14%
over the last decade, but has levelled off since 1995. Euro-
pean NATO member states have significantly increased
their combined equipment expenditures in 1998 after a
continuous decline since 1987.
Available data from Latin America — the least trans-
parent region — show a ten-year fall, interrupted by a
major increase in 1997.
African military expenditure, only 1.2% of the global
total in 1998, has fallen over the decade because of deterio-
rating economic conditions and disarmament in post apart-
heid South Africa.
Arms Production
Arms production declined in the post Cold War period
in 100 countries surveyed by the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Figures available to
SIPRI showed that the reduction in volume of arms produc-
tion, which levelled off in 1995, was accompanied by a
“profound restructuring of the industry.” A series of merg-
ers and acquisitions in recent years has created companies
with annual arms sales that are more than the entire defense
budgets of most countries. “The largest arms-producing
company, Lockheed Martin, had 1997 arms sales of $18.5
billion (total sales of $28 billion), exceeding the 1997
national defence budgets of all but ten countries in the
world.”
10
As arms manufacturers become bigger — narrowing

decision-making power — production is being internation-
alized, raising questions of political control over the pro-
duction of armaments. The redistribution has reinforced the
hierarchical structure of arms production, concentrated in a
small number of countries, SIPRI says. Ten countries
accounted for almost 90 percent of estimated world arms
production in 1996. The United States produced about half
the total. With Britain and France, the next largest arms-
producing countries, the share rose to two-thirds.
World arms sales totaled $55.8 billion in 1998, accord-
ing to the London-based International Institute for Strategic
Studies (IISS), with half of those made by the United
States. Russian arms sales were $2.8 billion in 1998 and
$3.5 billion in 1999.
According to William Hartung of the New York-based
World Policy Institute, US taxpayers, not the recipients,
financed more than half the $12 billion in new agreements
signed in 1996 for arms sales (the latest year for which
these figures are available).
11
The Weapons of War

Through most of human history, the scale and destruc-
tiveness of conflict were constrained by the limitations of
available weaponry. And over the centuries, advances in the
destructive power of weapons were few and far between.
Cannon, first used in the 14th century, remained much the
same for the next 400 years. As recently as 1850, armies
used muzzle-loaded artillery fired by lighting fuses. And it
was not till the Napoleonic Wars (1800-1815) that Henry
Shrapnel, a British artillery-man, invented the exploding
cannonball; its fuse also had to be hand-lit.
The first hand-held guns were scaled down cannon,
which took two men to operate: one to aim and the other to
light the fuse. The
matchlock, developed
in Europe in the 15th
century, allowed one man to do
both, and the flintlock, which
replaced the match with a
flint and allowed combat
under damp conditions, remained in use till the 19th cen-
tury in Europe, and the 20th century in other parts of the
world.
Compared with that rate of change, the 20th century
was a rush to mayhem. With the scientific and engineering
communities of several countries committed to the work of
war, the variety and deadliness of weaponry made quantum
leaps. As a result, disarmament today must encompass
12
weapons — nuclear, chemical and biological — with

historically unprecedented capacity for mass destruction, as
well as conventional weapons, especially small arms, that
have become massively destructive.
Nagasaki after nuclear attack. Many of the nuclear weapons in national

arsenals now are hundreds of times more powerful than the bombs used
in the Second World War.
13
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The most dangerous weapons in the world are nuclear,

which use the enormous amounts of energy released when
the nucleus of a heavy atom such as uranium or plutonium
is split in a chain reaction (fission), or when isotopes of a
light element such as hydrogen combine in a thermonuclear
bomb (fusion). The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, each with the explosive power of 20,000 tons
of dynamite (20 kilotons), have long been dwarfed. By the
1970s, the Soviet Union and the United
States, which have 98 per cent of the
world’s nuclear weapons, had in
their arsenals thousands of 25
megaton warheads. (A megaton
is equivalent to a million tons of
TNT.) Far more powerful thermo-
nuclear bombs have been tested.
It is not only the enormous
destructive power of nuclear
weapons that argues against their use.
They also release deadly radiation: extremely poisonous
isotopes created by nuclear explosions will remain a danger
for many thousands of years. And the material will not stay
confined to the area of conflict. It will get into the planet’s
life processes, and be carried by wind and wave to distant
areas, eventually poisoning all of Earth. (The far flung
threat of radioactive fallout from atmospheric testing was
the main reason why a partial test ban was agreed upon in
1963.) A major nuclear war could also throw up such a
14
cloud of dust into the atmosphere as to block out the sun

and create a prolonged “nuclear winter” that would devas-
tate life on earth.
Because of such long term and widespread effects,
nuclear weapons cannot be used with any rational expecta-
tion of “victory” in the traditional sense. Yet today, there
are some 30,000 nuclear weapons in the world’s arsenals,
nearly as many as when the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) was agreed to in 1968. Since the end of the
Cold War, the strategic role of nuclear weapons has been
reaffirmed both by NATO (which includes all three Western
nuclear-weapon States) and the Russian Federation. They
do not rule out the first use of nuclear weapons, as China
does. In 1999, India issued a draft nuclear doctrine, also
affirming no-first-use. Pakistan, which is also a nuclear-
weapon-capable State, has not done so.
Nuclear warheads continue to be mounted on intercon-
tinental ballistic missiles, carried by long-range bombers
and submarines, and deployed on mobile launchers. Some
are small enough to be referred to as “suitcase bombs.”
About 5,000 nuclear weapons are thought to be on hair-
trigger alert, intended for launch within minutes of notifica-
tion of an incoming missile attack. Such arrangements
might have had a mad logic at the height of the Cold War
— they were to assure retaliation to any surprise attack —
but in the context of an overall relaxation of tensions in a
globalizing world, they make no sense at all.
Nuclear weapons in the world today represent many
varieties of fear and insecurity. Though they are possessed
by countries that are among the world’s most powerful in
15
economic and/or military terms, nuclear weapons signal a

fundamental lack of self-confidence. Those who feel the
need not only to hang onto existing stocks of nuclear
weapons but to continue with the work of improving their
design and efficiency are motivated by fear that some day
the weapons will be needed as a last resort, however im-
probable such an eventuality might seem. This at a time
when old political enemies have reconciled and new ones
are unlikely to appear if the world continues to progress
towards a regime of encompassing international law. (Only
Hollywood, in blockbuster movies like Armageddon is
making the case for nuclear weaponry for use against
extraterrestrial threats.)
Meanwhile, the existence of nuclear weapons presents
a clear and present danger. Not only are accidents or inad-
vertent use an ever-present possibility, the extremely
poisonous materials in nuclear weapons are a huge environ-
mental and taxpayer liability. The direct cost of implement-
ing the START I and INF treaties to the United States has
been put at $31 billion. The cost of clean-up — although
there is no really safe way to dispose of the highly toxic
remnants of nuclear bombs — would add another $365
billion. Russian costs would be comparable.
The high and unavoidable costs of disarmament pale
in comparison to the cost of nuclear weapons: the United
States is now spending $30 billion per year to maintain its
stocks. A Brookings Institute study in 1998 put the overall
cost of the US nuclear weapons program since 1940 at over
$5.5 trillion.
16
While the United States and the Russian Federation

have significantly reduced their arsenals in the post Cold
War period, it is quite clear that neither is aiming at total
elimination of nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future.
Along with Britain and France they have resisted the
proposal by Non-Aligned countries at the 66-member
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, to start talks aimed
at the elimination of nuclear weapons. They have pushed
instead for negotiations to ban the production of fissile
material for use in nuclear weapons, a measure that many
non-nuclear-weapon States as well as China, India and
Pakistan, would like to negotiate only as part of a larger
effort at nuclear disarmament. In addition, Russian and
Chinese concerns that the United States will proceed with
the creation of a national missile defense system, in viola-
tion of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty, have led
them to propose that the CD take up the issue of preventing
an arms race in outer space — which the United States has
opposed. Because the Conference on Disarmament (CD)
can act only by consensus, these linkages had (at this
writing), prevented any substantive work for four years.
In the wake of the 2000 Review Conference of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (see chapter on the NPT),
it seemed that substantial progress on nuclear disarmament
and related issues would be possible, but this has not yet
materialized.
17
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
Chemical warfare is not unique to the human species,

nor is it a recent development in history: as early as 431
B.C. the armies of Sparta used burning sulphur around the
walls of besieged cities to disable
the defenders. Modern use of
chemical weapons occurred
mainly during the First
World War, when both sides
had artillery-fired projectiles
that released poisonous
gases such as chlorine,
phosgene and “mustard gas”
(compounded of carbon, chlo-
rine, hydrogen and sulphur).
Poison gas created ghastly casualties, blistering the
lungs, eyes and skin of soldiers, and subjecting victims to
agonizing suffering. But it was not as efficient as conven-
tional weapons, for effectiveness depended on uncontrol-
lable external conditions: a turn of the wind could blow the
gas from the intended victims to the attackers. That, plus
general revulsion at the needless suffering inflicted, facili-
tated agreement on a ban on the use of poison gas, the 1925
Geneva Protocol on Gas Warfare. It was widely observed
by all participants in the Second World War. However,
chemical weapons were reportedly used by Italy in North
Africa and Japan in China.
Since 1945 (when the Second World War ended), there
18
have been only a few cases of the use of chemical weapons.

The United States used chemical defoliants during the Viet
Nam war in an effort to deny forest cover to the Viet Cong.
Iraq was reported to have used chemical weapons against
Kurdish insurgents and against the Islamic Republic of
Iran. After the Gulf conflict of 1991, the UN Special Com-
mission established by the Security Council to disarm Iraq
of weapons of mass destruction, found evidence of a
substantial chemical weapons program.
As the 1925 Geneva Protocol only banned the use of
chemical weapons, the Cold War period saw significant
development, manufacture and stockpiling of such weap-
ons. The main types of chemical weapons developed were:
◗ Agents like sarin, soman and VX that render the
brain and nervous system dysfunctional.
◗ Blistering agents such as hydrocyanic acid and
mustard gas.
◗ Asphyxiating agents such as phosgene and chlorine
gas.
◗ Poisons that block the blood’s oxygen carrying
capacity.
◗ Irritants such as tear gas.
The danger these weapons represented, even if un-

used, led governments to negotiate a total ban on their
development and production; and a requirement that all
existing stocks be destroyed. Negotiated over a decade at
the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the Conven-
tion on Chemical Weapons was adopted in 1992. The
CWC was the first multilaterally negotiated treaty that
19
provided for the elimination of an entire category of weap-

ons of mass destruction under universally applied interna-
tional control. To ensure against clandestine development,
it set in place a stringent system of inspections, including
challenge inspections, covering not only military installa-
tions but significant portions of the chemical industry. (In
1998, the United States Senate set limits on challenge
inspections of the civilian industry to protect the confidenti-
ality that it said was necessary to protect cutting-edge
technology from foreign competitors.)
The Russian Federation and the United States, which
were known to have chemical weapons programs, have
declared a total of 70,000 tons of poisonous material, which
must be destroyed within a ten-year period. The United
States will probably meet that target on its own, but the
Russians, under newly straitened economic conditions, will
need substantial foreign aid if the expensive destruction
program is to be completed on schedule. Eight other coun-
tries have declared previously secret weapons programs.
By December 2000, the CWC had 141 States parties.
It is seeking universal membership but a number of Middle
Eastern countries have not joined, linking their accession to
the CWC with that of Israel to the Nuclear Non-Prolifera-
tion Treaty as a non-nuclear-weapon State.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW), based at the Hague, the Netherlands,
carries out inspections and ensures the safe destruction of
weapons. The need for safety is paramount, for if the
poisonous chemicals used in the weapons were to be
released into the environment, the results would be disas-
20
trous. The town of Ypres in Belgium, where some half a

million soldiers died in the first poison gas battle of the
First World War, is living proof of the long-term effects of
chemical weapons. More than 80 years after the battle of
Ypres, people there continue to sicken and die from the
poisons. Another place where the poisonous legacy of
chemical weapons is clear in continuing sickness and death
is Qiqihar, in northern China, where chemical and bacterio-
logical weapons dumped by Japanese forces at the end of
the Second World War were collected and buried. It now
has the reputation of being “Asia’s most dangerous dump.”
21
BIOLOGICAL & TOXIN WEAPONS
Biological and toxin weapons differ from chemical

weapons in that they are derived from living organisms.
Historically, organic poisons and diseases have
not been widely used in war, perhaps because
there is a natural aversion to practices that
are extremely risky to the attacker and
reek of weakness and cowardice.
During the Cold War, both sides
developed biological means of warfare, and it
was not till the late 1960s that initiatives were made to
control the proliferation of weapons using some of the
deadliest diseases known to human beings. Multilateral
negotiations in Geneva were given a boost in 1969 when
the United States unilaterally renounced first use of lethal
or incapacitating chemical agents and weapons and uncon-
ditionally renounced all methods of biological warfare.
(Since then, the US biological program has reportedly been
confined to research on strictly defined measures of de-
fense, such as immunization.)
In 1972, following a procedure they had established
with the Non-Proliferation and the Seabed Treaties, the
Soviet Union and the United States agreed on a draft
convention on biological weapons and toxins before sub-
mitting it to the larger UN membership. The General
Assembly adopted it the same year. Parties to the Biologi-
cal and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which en-
tered into force in 1975, undertake not to develop, produce,
22
stockpile, or acquire biological agents or toxins “of types

and in quantities that have no justification for prophylactic,
protective, and other peaceful purposes,” as well as weap-
ons and means of delivery. There have been several Review
Conferences on the Convention, and they focused increas-
ingly on the lack of verification arrangements. States
Parties to the BTWC agreed in 1994 to begin work through
an Ad Hoc Group, on binding verification measures. That
work is still continuing.
In 1985, the year after a UN investigatory mission
reported that Iraq had used chemical weapons against the
Islamic Republic of Iran, Australia proposed to a number of
countries that they cooperate in monitoring the transfer of
precursors to chemical and biological warfare agents, and
equipment needed to weaponize them. The initiative re-
sulted in the “Australia Group” of countries, which meet
twice a year at the Australian Embassy in Paris. The 30+
States in the Group have no legally binding obligations.
They exchange information, coordinate measures and agree
when new action is needed to impede the production of
chemical and biological weapons. Controls agreed by the
Group are applied on a national basis. Since the Chemical
Weapons Convention came into force, the Australia Group
has concentrated on controlling a long list of human,
animal and plant pathogens as well as BW dual-use equip-
ment.
23
MISSILES
Rockets long predated artillery in war. They were used

in medieval China against Mongol armies, in 18th century
India against the British, and by the latter in Europe and the
Americas in the 19th century. But the difficulty of precise
targeting kept rockets from being a major factor in military
operations till the Second World War, when the German V-
2, the first truly long range missile, came to be used as a
weapon of terror. At the end of the war, captured German
rockets and scientists helped begin massive missile devel-
opment programs in the
United States and the Soviet
Union. Missiles made
devastating nuclear attack
possible at short notice.
The hair-raising pros-
pect that nuclear-tipped
missiles could be stationed
in orbit and hit targets within
a few minutes of launch,
helped foster agreement on
the Outer Space treaty. And
the destabilizing growth in
the number of missiles led
the US and USSR to agree in
1972 on the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT)
and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. SALT limited
24
the number of launch vehicles. The ABM treaty prevented

either side from developing a national defense system:
equal vulnerability to attack was deemed essential to
stability.
In January 2000, Russia reportedly had 756 Inter-
Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) with 2000 war-
heads; the United States, 550 missiles with 3,540 warheads,
and China 20 (without multiple warheads). The number of
submarine-launched long range missiles (SLBMs) are
reported to be 432 for the US (3,456 warheads) and 348 for
Russia (1,576 warheads). France had 64 SLBMs (384
warheads) and Britain, 48 (185 warheads). Other countries
have only short and intermediate range missiles. (Demo-
cratic Peoples Republic of Korea is said to have built a
prototype of an intercontinental missile, the Taepo Dong 2,
but has yet to test it.)
While missiles made devastating war possible at short
notice, they also weighed in on the side of peace. The
artificial satellites they hefted into orbit — there are some
500 now — allow verification of major arms control trea-
ties that would not otherwise be possible. By ushering in an
unprecedented era of commercialization of outer space,
missiles have created a potent counterweight to the military
in that environment. Already, there are more satellites
performing commercial than military functions, and over
the next decade, when some 1,800 satellites are projected to
be put into orbit, that balance will tip further.
It is, however, too early to say that outer space will
remain peacefully civilian. The United States military and
25
its new Space Command is gearing up to “develop, operate

and maintain space control capabilities to insure freedom
of action in space and if directed, deny such freedom of
action to adversaries.” It will take a watchful citizenry to
ensure that only the legitimate security needs of a globaliz-
ing world are served.
A more immediate concern is the push by the United
States to amend the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty: it
wants to deploy a national missile defense system capable
of protecting against attack by what it used to term “rogue
States.” (The Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq and the Demo-
cratic Peoples Republic of Korea, the ones most often
mentioned, are now “States of concern.”) The US argues
that such a defensive system would not destabilize the
strategic balance with Russia because it would not be
effective against the large missile arsenal at Moscow’s
command. However, as of this writing, the Russian Federa-
tion has continued to maintain a firm opposition to any
amendment of the ABM treaty.
Noting the lack of multilaterally negotiated norms
against the spread of ballistic-missile technology for
military purposes, the UN General Assembly in 1999
underlined the need for a comprehensive, balanced and
nondiscriminatory approach to the matter and asked the
Secretary-General to canvass the views of member States.
In 2000, the General Assembly asked that a group of
governmental experts be enlisted in writing a comprehen-
sive report on missiles.
26
Conventional Weapons
Positional warfare among States has become a rarity in
the period after the Second World War, but governments
continue to spend significant portions of their military
budgets on heavy conventional weaponry. Since only a
handful of States manufacture these weapons, efforts at the
UN have focused on inducing greater transparency in
international transfers. A UN Register of Conventional
Arms has been published annually since 1992. Every year
till 1997, it included information from over 90 member
States on their imports and exports of seven main catego-
ries of conventional weapons: battle tanks, armored combat
vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, attack helicopters,
combat aircraft, warships, and missiles and missile launch-
ers. In 1998 the number of reporting States dipped to 82 but
rose to 90 in 1999 (the latest report). States are also invited
to submit information on military holdings and internal
procurement; 26 did in 1999.
Overall, the Register has functioned better than other
instruments based on government reporting, for it covers the
bulk of arms transfers. However, it is a far cry from being
comprehensive.
In recent years, non-governmental activists have
focused on small arms, light weapons and anti-personnel
mines. These have been the weapons of choice in the
numerous intra-State wars of the last half century, and their
destructive impact on non-combatant civilians has been
massive.
27
SMALL ARMS
The term “small arms” refers
to weapons an individual can carry.
Light weapons are those operated
by two or three people. The weap-
ons in question range from revolv-
ers to grenade launchers, mortars
and light missiles.
The numerous armed conflicts
since the end of the Cold War have
been fought almost exclusively
with small arms and light weapons.
In these wars, eight of ten noncom-
batant civilians killed have been
women or children. Concern at the
growing carnage has, since 1995,
led to increased activism by gov-
ernments and civil society. A UN
Panel of Governmental experts on N o n - g o v e r n m e n t a l
small arms outlined the magnitude organizations have taken
the lead in pressing for
of the problem in a 1997 report, action to curb the flood of
and a number of other studies since small arms that has
then have added to the understand- engulfed the world in the
ing of the situation. post-Cold War period.
A major contributory factor to
the present small arms situation is that arms brokers who
worked as agents of governments during the Cold War, are
now in the business for profit. As governments dumped
excess stocks in the post Cold War period, they became
middlemen, trafficking the weapons into areas of conflict,
28
selling indiscriminately to drug dealers, terrorists and

insurgent armies. There are few international or even
national regulations to check this, and monitoring is
skimpy. Meanwhile, the world’s stock of over 500 million
small arms and light weapons is growing steadily as some
70 countries continue with industrial scale production.
LAND MINES
Under the 1997 Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel
land mines, which entered into force on 1 March 1999,
States Parties must destroy all stocks in four years and clear
all mine fields in their territory in 10 years. According to a
voluminous report (Landmine Monitor Report 2000),
issued by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in
time for the second meeting of States
Parties to the Ottawa Convention in
September, there was quite a bit of
good news to report. Not only were
numbers of those killed and
maimed down in such key
trouble-spots as Afghanistan,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cam-
bodia and Mozambique, but
fewer new mines were being laid and legal trade in the
deadly weapons had come to a halt. The number of land
mine producers was down dramatically, from 54 to 16.
The number of States Parties in September 2000 stood
at 107, and 50 of them had destroyed over 22 million anti-
personnel mines. Supported by increased aid, seven of the
29
largest humanitarian demining agencies had cleared a total

of 168 million square meters of land in 1999.
As efforts to deal with the land mines problem in-
creased, the problem itself had undergone some shrinkage:
detailed field studies indicated that there were only about
60 million land mines sown in the world’s conflict areas,
rather than the 100 million estimated earlier.
There has been progress also on the technology front:
corporations in Japan and the United States have developed
computer-enhanced radar for mine detection. They read the
electromagnetic “signatures” of nitrogen compounds in
explosive material, which are said to be as distinctive as
human fingerprints.
30
The Non-Proliferation Treaty

The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), was
adopted in 1968, came into force in 1970, and was indefi-
nitely extended in 1995. It now has 187 States parties. Five
of them are nuclear-weapon States (Britain, China, France,
Russian Federation, United States), pledged to negotiate in
good faith to rid the world of nuclear
weapons. The rest of the membership
is committed not to develop,
acquire or possess nuclear
weapons. The Treaty is gener-
ally viewed as a cornerstone
of international nuclear
security.
Although considerable
progress has been made by
the United States and the
Russian Federation since the
end of the Cold War in cutting
down the number of strategic
nuclear weapons, the NPT has
been subject to serious internal
and external pressures.
A major reason for
external pressure on the
treaty is that three of the four
States — Cuba, India, Israel,
Pakistan — that remain out
31
of it, are nuclear-weapon-capable States. India asserted

that it was a nuclear-weapon State after conducting
nuclear tests in May 1998. Israel has made no declara-
tion of its status, but is generally believed to have
nuclear-weapons capability. Efforts by Arab States to
have the international community deal with the situa-
tion in the Middle East are a major source of internal
pressure on the Treaty. Another source of tension is the
arrangement under which the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) locates nuclear weapons in the
territory of its non-nuclear-weapon States. Also at issue
are clandestine nuclear-weapons programs such as in
Iraq.
The prospect that a country like the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, or even a terrorist organi-
zation, could attack it with a nuclear missile, has led the
United States to reconsider the bilateral 1972 Anti-
Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union banning
the development of a national missile defense system.
Such a system was seen during the Cold War as a factor
that would weaken nuclear deterrence and thus danger-
ously destabilize the strategic balance between the
major nuclear Powers. The United States now argues
that it would no longer do so, but China and the Russian
Federation have strongly opposed any change in the
ABM Treaty. If the US does decide to develop a na-
tional missile defense system, it could lead to reconsid-
eration of strategic postures not only in Russia and
China but in Western Europe and South Asia. The
results would not be supportive of nuclear disarmament.
32
A more generic source of pressure on the NPT is the

perception of most of its members that the five nuclear-
weapon States recognized by the Treaty do not intend to
disarm. Although all five have signed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), only three (Britain, France,
Russian Federation) have ratified it so far, and non-explo-
sive testing is continuing. With the exception of China, they
have opposed multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarma-
ment at the Conference on Disarmament.
Non-nuclear-weapon States, the great majority of them
observant of their Treaty commitment not to develop,
acquire or possess nuclear weapons, have become increas-
ingly unwilling to accept the rationale advanced by nuclear-
weapon States for maintaining large stocks of nuclear
weapons. In the post-Cold War period, their impatience has
grown, and increasingly, they have come to view the
nuclear-weapon States as unwilling to implement the
disarmament provisions of the Treaty. The split between the
two categories of NPT States Parties prevented three
Review Conferences (in 1980, 1990 and 1995), from
reaching consensus on a Final Declaration. However, in
extending the Treaty indefinitely after its initial 25-year
term, the 1995 Conference adopted several measures to
strengthen the review process. In a package deal, it agreed
on annual preparatory meetings in the three years preceding
each five-year Review Conference, adopted a set of prin-
ciples and objectives to govern nuclear non-proliferation
and disarmament, and focused attention on the Middle East
in a separate resolution.
33
2000 Review Conference

When the Sixth Review Conference of NPT States
Parties began its four-week session in New York on 24
April, expectations were low. The three annual preparatory
meetings had done little to advance the cause of nuclear
disarmament, and every nuclear-weapon State continued to
affirm the central strategic importance of its nuclear weap-
ons. Four of the five NPT nuclear-weapon States had
military doctrines that envisaged first-use. Although the
world’s stock of nuclear weapons had fallen rapidly from
Cold War peaks because of the Russia-US Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START I), they remained at about the
same level as when the NPT came into force in 1970.
Thousands of weapons continued to be on hair-trigger alert,
capable of being launched within minutes of a decision to
do so. Disarmament negotiations were stalled, both at the
bilateral level between the United States and Russian
Federation, and at the 66-member Conference on Disarma-
ment in Geneva.
Particular reasons for gloom were the 1999 rejection
of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by the
United States Senate, and Washington’s consideration of a
National Missile Defense system that would violate the
Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty.
As it turned out, the 2000 Review Conference was not
a failure. Under intense pressure to avoid a breakdown that
would further test the credibility of the NPT, nuclear-
weapon States acceded to the demand of non-nuclear-
weapon States and made an explicit commitment to get rid
34
of all their nuclear weapons. Official statements from

national capitals quickly poured cold water on heated
expectations, but the fact that the Conference had been able
to call for an “unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-
weapon States to accomplish the total elimination of their
nuclear arsenals, leading to nuclear disarmament” was
enough to make it a qualified success. A joint decision by
the five nuclear-weapon States (China, France, Russian
Federation, United Kingdom and United States) provided
that undertaking.
The Conference also affirmed that “the total elimina-
tion of nuclear weapons is the only absolute guarantee
against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.” It
recognized the need for “legally binding security assur-
ances by the five nuclear-weapon States” to the non-
nuclear-weapon States Parties to the NPT, and called on the
Preparatory Committee for the next Review Conference (in
2005), to make recommendations on the issue. In setting
the course for the next five-year period, the Conference
also adopted a set of “practical steps” which pulled together
disparate elements and set in place an agenda for immedi-
ate action.
The many compromises reached by States Parties at
the Conference represented no major breakthroughs, but the
nuanced flexibility of key countries was significant. In
negotiations with the “New Agenda Coalition” (NAC),
consisting of Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand,
South Africa and Sweden, the nuclear-weapon States
agreed to set in motion processes that would engage them
and other NPT States Parties in meaningful action to realize
35
all the principal aims of the Treaty. On the provisions of the

Treaty that require promotion of the peaceful uses of
nuclear energy, the Conference introduced for the first time
the concept of sustainable development.
None of this came close to the demand of the Non-
Aligned Movement for a Nuclear Weapons Convention
with a time-bound plan for the eradication of nuclear
weapons, but it was the best that was politically possible.
The President of the sixth Review Conference, Abdallah
Baali of Algeria, described it as a “delicate, hard-won
compromise between divergent and sometimes conflicting
positions.” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was
“a significant step forward in humanity’s pursuit of a more
peaceful world.”
Regional Issues
The Conference dealt with a number of regional
issues, including the Middle East, South Asia and Korea. It
endorsed existing nuclear-weapon-free zones (including
Mongolia’s declaration of its “nuclear-free status”), and
supported proposals to create new zones “where they do
not yet exist, such as in the Middle East and South Asia.”
The Conference welcomed the Joint Declaration on the
Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula between the
Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea and urged its rapid implementation.
The Middle East: The Conference reaffirmed the
“importance of the Resolution on the Middle East adopted
by the 1995 Review and Extension Conference” and said it
remained “valid until the goals and objectives are
36
achieved.” Noting that the resolution was co-sponsored by

the NPT depositary States (Russian Federation, United
Kingdom and United States), the Conference said it was an
“essential element of the outcome of the 1995 Conference
and of the basis on which the Treaty on the Non-Prolifera-
tion of Nuclear Weapons was indefinitely extended without
a vote in 1995.” The Conference noted that “all States of
the region of the Middle East, with the exception of Israel,”
are States parties to the NPT and reaffirmed the importance
of Israel’s accession. Nine States parties in the Middle East
“have yet to conclude comprehensive safeguards agree-
ments with the IAEA,” the Conference noted in inviting
them to conclude such agreements and bring them into
force as soon as possible.
South Asia: While deploring the nuclear tests con-
ducted by India and then by Pakistan, the Conference
emphasized that “nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-
proliferation are mutually reinforcing.” It said: “Notwith-
standing their nuclear tests, India and Pakistan do not have
the status of nuclear-weapon States.” The two countries
were called upon to implement the measures called for in
UN Security Council 1172 (1998), adopted unanimously
soon after the nuclear tests. Both countries have voiced
fundamental objections to that resolution, which requires
them not only to accede to the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon
States, but to ratify the CTBT without reservations or
conditions and to stop their missile development programs.
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: The Con-
ference noted with concern that the IAEA “continues to be
unable to verify the correctness and completeness of the
37
initial declaration of nuclear material made by the Demo-

cratic People’s Republic of Korea, and is therefore unable
to conclude that there has been no diversion of nuclear
material in that country.”
IAEA Role
The Conference recognized that the safeguards of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (designed to prevent
diversion of nuclear material from peaceful uses) are “a
fundamental pillar of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.”
It expressed “the conviction … that nothing should be done
to undermine the authority of IAEA” in overseeing and
verifying safeguards, and emphasized the “importance of
access to the Security Council and the General Assembly
by IAEA, including its Director General.” It recalled that
the Security Council and the General Assembly had a role
in taking “appropriate measures in the case of any viola-
tions notified to it by the IAEA.”
The Conference stressed that comprehensive safe-
guards and additional protocols should be universally
applied once the complete elimination of nuclear weapons
has been achieved. In the meantime, it called for “wider
application of safeguards” in the nuclear-weapon States
under “voluntary-offer safeguards agreements.”
Endorsing measures approved by the IAEA Board of
Governors in 1995 to strengthen the safeguards system and
the “Model Additional Protocol” adopted by the Agency in
1997, the Conference said that measures to prevent diver-
sion of nuclear material from declared activities and ensure
the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities
38
“must be implemented by all States parties to the Non-

Proliferation Treaty, including the nuclear-weapon States.”
(This is to prevent the recycling of plutonium, highly
enriched uranium or other components of dismantled
nuclear weapons into new nuclear warheads.)
The Road Ahead
The Conference turned down proposals for a perma-
nent secretariat to oversee the strengthened review process
agreed to in 1995, but set guidelines on how the prepara-
tory committee should organize its work. The first two
sessions of the next Prep-com will “consider principles,
objectives and ways in order to promote the full implemen-
tation of the Treaty, as well as its universality.” That will
involve consideration of the 1995 resolution on the Middle
East and any developments affecting the operation and
purpose of the Treaty. A factual summary of each Prep-com
will be transmitted to the next, and it will be taken into
account in a consensus report containing recommendations
from the third Prep-com (or fourth, if necessary) to the
Review Conference.
39
An Arms-Related Chronology
© Heather McGuire
At the beginning of the new millennium, the world has
some 30,000 nuclear weapons. This is more than enough to
end life on Earth as we know it. The commitments made at
the 2000 Review Conference hold out the hope — if mean-
ingfully implemented — that we could eradicate this
greatest of man-made threats to our future.
The following pages put in chronological perspective
the road we have travelled over the last five decades to-
wards a more secure world.
40
1945 United Nations Charter signed at San Francisco on 26

June (came into force on 24 October).
◗ World’s first nuclear explosion, at Alamogordo, New
Mexico, on 16 July, followed by bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. World War II
ended formally on 2 September.
1949 First nuclear test by the Soviet Union at Semipalatinsk,
Kazakhstan. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) established by 12 States with the aim of mutual
defense.
1952 First nuclear test by the United Kingdom at Monte Bello,
near Australia.
1956: The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency
opened for signature. It came into force in 1957. The IAEA
aimed to facilitate peaceful uses of nuclear energy and guard
against military use.
1959: The Antarctic Treaty demilitarized an entire region and
created the first nuclear-weapon-free zone. It forbids all
military activity, the testing of any kind of weapon and
disposal of nuclear waste.
1960 First nuclear test by France, near Reggane, in the Sahara
Desert.
1963: The Partial Test Ban Treaty banned nuclear weapon
testing in the atmosphere, outer space and under water.
1964 First nuclear test by China at Lop Nor, Xinjiang.
1967: The Outer Space Treaty prohibited military maneuvers
and the placing of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruc-
tion in earth orbit and on celestial bodies, including the moon.
This was supplemented by a 1979 agreement to prevent the
use of the moon and other celestial bodies for military pur-
poses.
◗ Treaty of Tlatelolco establishing the Latin America and the
41
Caribbean Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone opened for signature:

the first inhabited region of the planet to seek that status.
1968: The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) balanced a
commitment by States without nuclear weapons not to de-
velop or possess them, with one by nuclear-weapon States to
negotiate their total elimination. The NPT entered into force in
1970 and has been the subject of periodic 5-year review
conferences. See also 1992, 1995 and 2000.
◗ Security Council resolution 255 set out security assurances
for non-nuclear weapon States.
1970: The International Atomic Energy Agency established
the safeguard system for NPT member States.
1971: The Sea Bed Treaty prohibited the placement of nuclear
weapons on or under the ocean floor beyond a 12-mile limit
from the coast line.
1972: A Convention banning Biological and Toxin weapons. It
entered into force in 1975, the first major disarmament
agreement in history committing States Parties (now including
all the major military Powers) not only to stop developing
biological weapons but to destroy all stocks in their posses-
sion. The BWC does not have verification arrangements and a
protocol providing for that is currently under negotiation.
◗ The Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty restricted the
development of defensive missile systems by the United
States and the Soviet Union (later Russian Federation), in
order to ensure that neither side could have a shield that would
allow it to launch a nuclear strike and survive. The treaty
banned ABM systems based at sea, in the air, in space and on
mobile launchers. Initially, it allowed the deployment of land-
based ABM system at two sites with no more than 100
launchers each, but under a 1974 Protocol, that was reduced to
a single site. See also 2000.
◗ A Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) set limits on
42
the number of launchers of strategic weapons.

1973: Agreement between the United States and the Soviet
Union on the Prevention of Nuclear War aimed at aligning
efforts to guarantee stability and peace.
1974 First nuclear test by India, at Pokharan, in the Rajasthan
Desert.
◗ A threshold yield of 150 kilotons was agreed between the
United States and the Soviet Union for underground nuclear
weapon tests.
1975: Final Act of the Conference on Security and Coopera-
tion in Europe initiated confidence-building measures that
led to agreement in 1986 on concrete and verifiable measures
that were further elaborated in 1990.
1976: Limits were set by the United States and the Soviet Union
for underground peaceful nuclear explosions: 150 kilotons
yield for a single test, and 1,500 kilotons for grouped tests.
1977: Agreement on preventing the use of environmental
modification techniques to cause such phenomena as earth-
quakes, tidal waves, and changes in climate and weather
patterns.
◗ Fifteen countries constituting the “London Club” of
nuclear suppliers agreed on principles and guidelines for the
transfer of nuclear materials, equipment and technology. See
also 1992
1978: The UN General Assembly’s first special session on
disarmament adopted a consensus Final Document. It gave
the highest priority to nuclear disarmament.
1979: Agreement by the United States and the Soviet Union to
limit the number and types of nuclear strategic missiles
(SALT II). It expired in 1985 without entering into force.
1981: Convention to ban the use of weapons deemed to be
excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects. This
included certain types of ammunition that inflict great suffer-
43
ing on victims, booby traps and, under a 1996 amendment,

undetectable anti-personnel land mines. The amendment also
banned the use of non-self-destructing/deactivating anti-
personnel land mines outside marked areas.
1982: The UN General Assembly’s second special session on
disarmament could not agree on a final document. China,
France, and the Soviet Union made declarations on unilateral
security assurances.
1985: Treaty of Rarotonga establishing the South Pacific
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone was opened for signature.
1987: UN Conference to promote international cooperation in
the peaceful uses of nuclear energy met in Geneva but was
unable to agree on text to reconcile principles of peaceful use
with those related to non-proliferation.
◗ Missile Technology Control Regime to oversee interna-
tional transfers is established by seven industrialized coun-
tries.
◗ Agreement by the United States and the Soviet Union on
the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter Range
Missiles (INF Treaty). It arranged for the verified elimination
of an entire class of missiles. Another agreement established
Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in Washington and Moscow
to exchange information and oversee notifications required
under other arms agreements.
1988: Agreement by the United States and the Soviet Union to
provide 24-hour notification of launches of land and subma-
rine-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, with information
on launch and impact areas.
1990: The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to stop
producing chemical weapons and begin destruction of
existing stocks. Agreed to as a means of facilitating the
multilateral Chemical Weapons Convention, the bilateral
treaty set 31 December 2002 as the target for each party to
44
reduce its holding to no more than 5,000 tons of chemical

agents.
◗ Last USSR explosive nuclear test — moratorium continued
by the Russian Federation.
◗ The treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe between the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact
lowered and balanced the strength of armed forces. Its verifi-
cation procedures survived the end of the Warsaw Pact in July
1991 and in 1999 they were amended to take account of
national forces rather than bloc strength.
1991: Last British explosive nuclear test.
◗ Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) agreed by the
United States and the Russian Federation, reduced to 6,000
the number of “accountable warheads” each country could
have, and set a limit for each of 1,600 deployed strategic
nuclear delivery vehicles — bombers, intercontinental ballis-
tic missiles and submarines capable of launching nuclear
missiles. A few months after START was signed, the Soviet
Union began to unravel, and it was not ratified by the Russian
Duma till December 1994.
◗ The Brazil-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control
of Nuclear Materials established.
◗ Last United States explosive nuclear test.
◗ Former Russian test site, Semipalatinsk, closed by newly
independent Kazakhstan.
1992: China and France acceded to the NPT. Belarus,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine signed the Lisbon Protocol to
START I, agreeing to adhere to the NPT as non-nuclear -
weapon States.
◗ The Nuclear Suppliers Group revised its guidelines to
require full-scope IAEA safeguards as a condition of export-
ing dual-use technology.
1993: The General Assembly adopted the Chemical Weapons
45
Convention, the first globally verifiable multilateral disarma-

ment treaty. It banned the production, stockpiling and use of
chemical weapons, and committed States parties to destroy all
stocks. By the time it came into force in April 1997, the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was
established at The Hague.
◗ Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) continued
the cuts initiated by the United States and the Russian Federa-
tion under START I. By December 31, 2003, land-based
ICBMs with multiple independently-targetable re-entry
vehicles (MIRVs) would be completely eliminated and neither
side would have more than 3,000-3,500 strategic nuclear
warheads. START II was ratified by the United States in 1996
and in April 2000 by the Russian Federation. Under the 1997
Helsinki Protocol, the implementation deadline was extended
to December 31, 2007. By that time, all delivery vehicles to
be eliminated under START II are to be deactivated.
1995: Security Council resolution 984 sets out security assur-
ances to non-nuclear-weapon States that are parties to the
NPT.
◗ The Bangkok Treaty established the South East Asia
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone. It entered into force in 1997.
◗ 33 States signed the “Wassenaar Arrangement” setting
export controls for conventional arms and dual use goods and
technologies.
◗ The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was indefinitely
extended, with strengthened accountability arrangements,
incorporated into a process of annual preparatory meetings
leading up to the five-year review conferences. As part of the
agreement to extend the Treaty indefinitely, States Parties
agreed to a set of Principles and Objectives, and adopted a
resolution on the Middle East.
46
1996 Last explosive nuclear tests by France (January) and

China (July).
◗ The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion
sought by the UN General Assembly on the legality of the
threat or use of nuclear weapons, agreed unanimously that the
nuclear-weapon States had “an obligation to … bring to a
conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament.”
◗ Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to stop all explosive
nuclear tests adopted by a vote of 158 to 3 with 5 abstentions
in the UN General Assembly, after the Conference on Disar-
mament (CD) was unable to reach consensus on the text it
negotiated. India blocked consensus in the CD on the grounds
that the treaty did not cover non-explosive nuclear testing
(subcritical and computer simulation), and was thus not
comprehensive. The CTBT cannot come into force unless 44
nuclear-capable States listed in its annex ratify it. By the end
of 2000, 41 of the 44 had signed (India, Pakistan and North
Korea had not), and 28 had ratified, including Britain, France
and the Russian Federation. The United States Senate rejected
the treaty in 1999, but the Clinton Administration remained
committed to ratification. Meanwhile, the Preparatory Com-
mission for the CTBT Organization was established in Vienna
(November 1996) and work began on establishing a global
system to verify the comprehensive ban on explosive nuclear
testing.
◗ The Treaty of Pelindaba established the African Nuclear-
Weapon-Free Zone.
◗ Summit on Nuclear Safety and Security is held in Mos-
cow in April.
1997: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Board of Governors approved the Model Additional Protocol,
strengthening safeguards.
◗ A comprehensive ban on anti-personnel land mines and
47
destruction of existing stocks was agreed as the result of a

process initiated by non-governmental organizations.
◗ The Inter-American Convention against the illicit manu-
facturing of and trafficking in firearms, ammunition, explo-
sives and other related material was approved by the Organi-
zation of American States annual assembly. This was the first
regional treaty to address the serious problem of illicit flows
of small arms and light weapons.
◗ NATO and the Russian Federation signed a “Founding
Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security,” agreeing
to build a “lasting and inclusive peace in the Euro-Atlantic
area.”
◗ US and Russia agreed at the summit-level on the outline of
START III negotiations.
1998: India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests and declared
themselves nuclear-weapon-States.
◗ Bangkok Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-
Free Zone entered into force.
◗ Mongolia’s declaration of its “nuclear -weapon-free status”
was welcomed by the UN General Assembly.
1999: 50th anniversary meeting of NATO adopted a new
strategic doctrine, affirming the role of nuclear weapons.
◗ The Russian Federation set out a new strategic doctrine,
affirming the role of nuclear weapons.
◗ India issued a draft nuclear doctrine that said it would
maintain a minimum deterrent capacity.
2000: The sixth five-year Review Conference of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty — the first since the indefinite
extension of the NPT in 1995 — called for and received an
“unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear-weapon States to
accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals,
leading to nuclear disarmament.” The Conference also
affirmed that “the total elimination of nuclear weapons is the
48
only absolute guarantee against the use or threat of use of

nuclear weapons.” It recognized the need for “legally binding
security assurances by the five nuclear-weapon States” to the
non-nuclear-weapon States Parties to the NPT, and called on
the Preparatory Committee for the next Review Conference
(in 2005), to make recommendations on the issue. The Con-
ference also adopted a set of practical steps which pulled
together disparate elements and set in place an agenda for
continuing action.
49
The United Nations

and Disarmament
The United Nations system is a
key proponent of disarmament, and
deals with the issue through its most
important organs and their subsidiar-
ies:
General Assembly: Composed of the full membership
of the United Nations, the General Assembly is the
Organization’s main deliberative body, and it focuses on
disarmament and international security through its First
Committee and the Disarmament Commission. The First
Committee meets while the Assembly is in session, during
the last three months of each year. The Disarmament
Commission meets once a year, between regular sessions of
the Assembly. All UN member States are represented on the
Committee and the Commission, and both are based in
New York. While the Committee deals with all disarma-
ment and security issues of concern to the international
community, the Commission considers a few chosen topics
in three-year cycles.
The General Assembly has held three special sessions
on Disarmament (SSOD). At the first, in 1979, agreement
was reached on an overall set of priorities, with nuclear
disarmament the highest priority. The two succeeding
sessions could not agree on a final document. A fourth
special session (SSOD IV) has been under consideration for
several years, but in the flux of the post Cold War period,
50
States have not been able to agree on what precisely it

should do.
Security Council: The United Nations Charter man-
dates the 15-member Security Council to formulate plans
for the regulation of armaments, but under the political
circumstances that have prevailed over the life of the
Organization, that has not been possible. In recent years,
the Council has been actively involved in disarming Iraq of
its weapons of mass destruction. It has also been increas-
ingly involved in authorizing UN peacekeeping forces to
disarm combatants in post conflict situations.
Conference on Disarmament: With 66 members, the
Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD), is the
world’s single multilateral forum for negotiating disarma-
ment. It operates on the basis of consensus to ensure that
there is full support for the agreements that are concluded.
It negotiated the Chemical Weapons Convention and the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty; the former was agreed by
consensus; the latter could not be adopted and was eventu-
ally voted upon by the General Assembly.
United Nations Department for Disarmament
Affairs (DDA): A part of the United Nations Secretariat, it
supports the disarmament-related work of intergovernmen-
tal organs. Under the Coordinating Action on Small Arms
(CASA), it brings together all elements within the UN
active in that area. Other parts of the UN dealing with
aspects of disarmament are the Geneva-based UN Institute
for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Mine Action
Service (UNMAS) of the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations in New York. DDA maintains an active outreach
51
program, the main components of which are liaison with

non-governmental organizations, publications and a web
site (http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/DDAHome.htm). Phone:
212-963-7706. Fax: 212-963-1121
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): A
Vienna-based agency that is the world’s central intergov-
ernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in
the nuclear field. Its “safeguards” system provides the first
line of defense against the diversion of nuclear fissile
material from civilian to military use. http://www.iaea.org/
worldatom/
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW): The Secretariat of the Chemical Weap-
ons Convention, monitoring compliance by States Parties
and overseeing the destruction of existing stocks of weap-
ons. OPCW, Johan de Wittlaan 32, NL-2517 JR The Hague,
Netherlands. Phone: +31-70-416 3300 Fax: +31-70-306
3535. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: http://
www.opcw.nl/ptshome.htm
CTBTO Preparatory Commission: The secretariat
supporting preparations for the coming into force of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). It is putting in
place the verification system that will be necessary to
monitor compliance. Contact: CTBTO Preparatory Com-
mission, Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 1200, A-
1400 Vienna. Phone: 43 1 260 30 6210. Fax: 43 1 260 30
5897. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: http:/
/www.ctbto.org/ctbto/verif.shtml
52
Getting Involved…
Arms production and trade
constitute a big and profitable indus-
try, with strong links to the world’s
political structures. The priorities
they set affect all government spend-
ing decisions. If the industry and its
allied politicians are not to keep the
world in a perpetual state of insecu-
rity and danger, they must be countered by ordinary people
who understand what is happening and why. As this realiza-
tion has grown in the period after the Cold War, ordinary
people have begun to involve themselves with international
security issues in unprecedented numbers. The impact has
been considerable. For the first time in history, a major inter-
national treaty — the one banning land mines — was negoti-
ated and agreed to primarily because of a non-governmental
campaign. Currently, a number of non-governmental organi-
zations are campaigning for the abolition of all nuclear weap-
ons. Many are also engaged in the growing campaign against
the proliferation and illicit trafficking of small arms and light
weapons.
You need to be interested and get involved in all this
for a simple and basic reason: what happens with disarma-
ment will certainly affect your own safety and welfare. You
can get involved in any number of ways — or just keep
yourself informed if activism is not possible. The following
list offers just a few of the options, centered mainly in
North America and Europe:
53
NGO Committee on Disarmament: A key point for

non-governmental interactions with the United Nations in
New York. Publishes Disarmament Times. Organizes panel
discussions during Disarmament Week in October every
year. At: 777 United Nations Plaza, 3rd floor. Phone: 212
687 5340 Fax: 212 687 1643. E-mail:
[email protected]. Web site: http://www.igc.org/disarm/
.
Abolition 2000: Founded by activists at the 1995
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Confer-
ence, it is now a network of over 2,000 organizations in
over 90 countries, working towards a treaty to eliminate
nuclear weapons within a time-bound framework. One
contact point: Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: PMB 121,
1187 Coast Village Road, Suite 1, Santa Barbara, California
93108-2794. Phone 805 965 3443. Fax 805 568 0466. E-
mail: [email protected]. Web site:
www.abolition2000.org
Acronym Institute: A key resource for those working
on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation issues.
Publishes Disarmament Diplomacy, which appears eleven
times a year, providing in-depth coverage and analysis of
all major ongoing arms control negotiations, initiatives and
debates: www.acronym.org.uk/. At: 24 Colvestone Cres-
cent, Dalston, London E 8 2LH, England Phone: +44 (0)
171 503 8857 Fax: +44 (0) 171 503 9153 E-mail:
[email protected].
Arms Control Association (ACA): A nonpartisan fee-
based membership organization ($30 new members, $50
54
regular, $60 international) founded in 1971, dedicated to

promoting public understanding of and support for effec-
tive arms control policies. It has programs directed at the
policy-makers, media and the public. It publishes Arms
Control Today (10 issues a year). At: 1726 M Street, N.W.,
Suite 201 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202 463 8270.
Fax: 202 463 8273. E-mail: [email protected]
Arms Trade Resource Center (ATRC): A public
education and policy advocacy program aimed at promot-
ing preventive diplomacy and restraint in the international
arms trade. Based at the World Policy Institute at the New
School University in New York, it provides timely analyses
of current arms control, conflict-prevention and human
rights issues. Provides excellent E-mail updates. All mate-
rial is available at www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms. At:
66 Fifth Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10011. Phone
212 229 5808. E-mail: [email protected]
Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC):
promotes and facilitates processes to shift people, skills,
technology, equipment, and financial and economic re-
sources from the defense sector to alternative civilian uses.
At: An der Elisabethkirche 25, 53113 Bonn, Germany.
Phone: +49 228 911 96 0, Fax: +49 228 24 12 15, E-mail:
[email protected]. Web site: WWW.BICC.de
British American Security Information Council
(BASIC): Provides topical and well-researched informa-
tion on security policy, arms trade, nuclear and conven-
tional weapons. Excellent source of information on NATO.
In the USA: 1012 14th Street NW Suite 900 Washington,
DC 20005 Phone: 1 202 347 8340 1266 Fax: 1 202 347
55
4688 E-mail: [email protected]. Web site:

www.basicint.org
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Founded in De-
cember 1945 by those who developed the first nuclear
bomb, it provides thoughtful, accurate information on war
and peace issues, especially nuclear policy: At: 6042 S.
Kimbark Avenue Chicago, IL 60637 Fax: 773 702 0725.
Web site: www.bullatomsci.org
Center for Defense Information: A think tank in
Washington, drawing on a staff of retired senior military
officers and civilians with extensive experience in military
analysis. Maintains an arms trade database, conducts on-
line conferences, produces a TV show (America’s Defense
Monitor), a monthly newsletter (Defense Monitor), and a
weekly electronic posting. At: 1779 Mass. Ave. NW Wash-
ington, DC 20036. Phone: 202 332 0600. Fax: 202 462
4559 Web site: www.cdi.org
Council For a Livable World: Deals with all weap-
ons of mass destruction, arms sales and UN peacekeeping
operations. It is host to the Coalition to Reduce Nuclear
Danger (www.crnd.org), which advocates CTBT ratifica-
tion and opposes ballistic missile defense. As a political
action committee, raising funds for political candidates,
CLW contributions are not tax-deductible. At: 110 Mary-
land Avenue NE #409, Washington DC 20002. Phone 202
543 4100. Fax 202 543 6297. E-mail: [email protected].
Economists Allied for Arms Reduction: 211 East
43rd Street, Suite 1501, New York, NY 10017 USA.
Phone: +1 (212) 557 2545. Fax: +1 (212) 557 2589. E-
mail: [email protected]. www.ecaar.org/
56
Federation of American Scientists: Founded in

1945 by members of the Manhattan Project, FAS advocates
on science, technology and public policy, including nuclear
weapons, arms sales, biological hazards, secrecy, and space
policy. At: 307 Mass. Ave, NE Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202 546 3300. Fax: 202 675 1010. E-mail
[email protected]. Their web site, www.fas.org, has much infor-
mation, on outer space, ballistic missiles and nuclear issues.
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear
Power in Space: Founded in 1992 to prevent the
nuclearization and weaponization of space. Publishes
quarterly ”Space Alert” newsletter. PO Box 90083,
Gainesville, FL. 32607. Phone: (352) 337 9274 Web site:
http://www.space4peace.org E-mail:
[email protected]
Hague Appeal for Peace: A global campaign that
emerged from the gathering of peace activists at The
Hague, Netherlands, (11-15 May 1999) to commemorate
the centennial of the first International Peace Conference in
1899. Main focal points: disarmament, conflict resolution/
transformation, international humanitarian and human
rights law, and the roots of war/culture of peace. At: 777
United Nations Plaza, New York NY 10017.
www.haguepeace.org. Phone 212 687 2623 Fax: 212 661
2704
Henry L. Stimson Center: Programs address a range
of security challenges, focusing on nuclear, chemical and
biological weapons. On-going projects are on nuclear
policy and South Asia missiles. At: 11 Dupont Circle, NW,
57
9th floor, Washington, DC 20036; Phone: 202 223 5956.

Fax: 202 228 9604. Web site: www.stimson.org
Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies: A
think tank for research and education in ways to minimize
the risk of war, reduce the burden of military spending and
promote democratic institutions. It publishes the Arms
Control Reporter and the Almanac of World Arms Hold-
ings, Production and Trade, a hugely detailed collection of
information. Its web site (www.idds.org) has information
on Global Action ([email protected]), a program to
end war. At: 675 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA
02139; Phone: 627 354 4437. Fax: 617 354 1450
International Action Network on Small Arms
(IANSA): A global coalition of NGOs and individuals to
address the issues of proliferation, spread and misuse of
small arms and light weapons. One contact point:
Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey,
California, USA. Fax: 831 647 4199.
International Association of Lawyers Against
Nuclear Arms (IALANA): Promotes a draft convention to
outlaw nuclear weapons and another to limit and eventually
abolish the international arms trade. At: Anna
Paulownastraat 103, 2518 BC, The Hague, Netherlands.
Phone: 31 70 363 4484. Fax: 31 70 345 5951. Web site:
www.ddh.nl/org/ialana
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL):
A network of NGOs that won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize
for its leading role in the conclusion of the Ottawa Conven-
tion banning land mines. It closely monitors implementa-
58
tion of the Convention. Web site: www.icbl.org. Phone: 292

547 2667.
International Physicians for the Prevention of
Nuclear War: A federation of national groups from over 80
countries. It won the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. At: 727
Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. Phone:
617 868 5050 Fax: 617 868 2560 E-mail:
[email protected]. Web site: www.healthnetorg/
International Peace Bureau: The oldest international
peace networks, with 160 member organizations from over
60 countries. Its current priorities are nuclear weapons
abolition, conflict prevention/resolution and international
humanitarian law. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910.
At: 41, Rue de Zurich, CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland.
Phone: 41 22 731 64 29. Fax: 41 22 738 94 19 E-mail:
[email protected] Web site: www.ipb.org .
Millennium Forum: As part of the UN’s Millennium
observances, NGOs and civil society representatives met in
New York in May, 2000 on the (main) theme “The United
Nations for the Twenty-First Century.” Follow-up activities
continue. At 866 UN Plaza, Suite 120, New York, New
York 10017-1822. Phone: 212 803 2522 • Fax: 212 803
2561. E-mail: [email protected] • Web site:
www.millenniumforum.org.
Nonviolence Web: Home to many peace activist
groups in the United States, it issues a twice monthly
webzine, Upfront. At: P.O. Box 30947, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania 19104. Phone: 215 724 4633 E-mail:
[email protected] site: www.nonviolence.org
59
Norwegian Initiative on Small Arms Transfers:

Collects and disseminates information on production and
trade of small arms. Provides country profiles of small arms
producers and weapons, information on national laws on
arms exports and on the arms trade. Searchable database at:
www.nisat.org.
Programme for Promoting Nuclear Non-Prolifera-
tion (PPNN): A UK-based international NGO structured
around a Core Group of 18 acknowledged authorities
(diplomats, nuclear experts, academic researchers) from 18
countries. web site: www.soton.ac.uk/ppnn. In the United
States: P.O. Box 79, Falls Village, CT 06031. Phone: 860
824 0813. Fax: 860 824 4707. E-mail: [email protected].
Small Arms Survey: A project of the Graduate Insti-
tute of International Studies, Geneva, it will publish from
2001, an annual review of global small arms issues and
themes. At: Avenue de Secheron 12, CH-1202, Geneva,
Switzerland. Phone: 41 22 908 5777 Fax: 41 22 732 2738.
Web site: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
(SIPRI): Concentrates on arms limitation, control and
reduction. Publishes well-researched data on development,
production, transfers and expenditures. At: SIPRI
Signalistgatan 9, S-169 70 Solna, Sweden. Phone: 46 8 655
97 00. Fax: 468 655 97 33. E-mail: [email protected] Web:
www.sipri.se/
Union of Concerned Scientists: Founded at MIT in
1969 in a bid to redirect Cold War scientific priorities, it
focuses now on environmental, energy, biological and
60
nuclear issues. At: 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA

02338-9105. Phone: 617 547 5552. E-mail:
[email protected] Web site: www.ucsusa.org
Verification Research, Training and Information
Centre (VERTIC): Deals with verification issues related
not only to arms control but with environmental protection.
At: 15-17St. Cross Street, Baird House, London, EC1N
8UW, UK. Phone: 44 (0) 20 74406960 Fax: 44 (0) 20 7242
3266 E-mail: <[email protected]. Web: http://
www.ctbtcommission.org
Women’s International League for Peace and
Freedom (WILPF): Founded in 1915 during World War I,
works for world disarmament, full rights for women, racial
and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and
for the conditions necessary for peace, freedom, and justice
for all. At: 1213 Race street, Philadelphia PA 19107-1691.
Phone 215 563 7110. Fax 215 563 5527. Web site:
www.WILPF.org.
World Federalist Movement: An international
citizens’ movement working for justice, peace, and sustain-
able prosperity. Its forum at the 1989 Non-Aligned Ministe-
rial meeting sparked the call for a UN Decade of Interna-
tional Law. It is the convener of the NGO Coalition for an
International Criminal Court. At: 777 UN Plaza 12th Floor,
New York NY 10017, USA.
61

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DISARMAMENT

The Department for Disarmament Affairs is publishing this Basic Guide

Department for Disarmament Affairs

The NGO Committee on Disarmament

I Why Do We Need Disarmament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II Changing Concepts of Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

III Arms Expenditures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

IV The Weapons of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

VII The United Nations and Disarmament . . . . . . . . . . 50

VIII Getting Involved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Arms control and disarmament issues are critical

The booklet shows that this need not be so. It

Why Do We Need Disarmament?

Armed to the Teeth is a new United Nations documentary that tells

Property damage in the Soviet Union was put at $485

had clandestine nuclear-weapons development programs;

social programs that are desperately needed in countries

Changing Concepts of Security

riological weapons were built up during the Cold War, and

cial flows, demographic changes and environmental degra-

combined military expenditure of all the states that made

As arms manufacturers become bigger — narrowing

The Weapons of War

weapons — nuclear, chemical and biological — with

Nagasaki after nuclear attack. Many of the nuclear weapons in national

The most dangerous weapons in the world are nuclear,

cloud of dust into the atmosphere as to block out the sun

economic and/or military terms, nuclear weapons signal a

While the United States and the Russian Federation

Chemical warfare is not unique to the human species,

have been only a few cases of the use of chemical weapons.

The danger these weapons represented, even if un-

provided for the elimination of an entire category of weap-

trous. The town of Ypres in Belgium, where some half a

BIOLOGICAL & TOXIN WEAPONS

Biological and toxin weapons differ from chemical

stockpile, or acquire biological agents or toxins “of types

Rockets long predated artillery in war. They were used

the number of launch vehicles. The ABM treaty prevented

its new Space Command is gearing up to “develop, operate

selling indiscriminately to drug dealers, terrorists and

largest humanitarian demining agencies had cleared a total

The Non-Proliferation Treaty

of it, are nuclear-weapon-capable States. India asserted

A more generic source of pressure on the NPT is the

2000 Review Conference

of all their nuclear weapons. Official statements from

all the principal aims of the Treaty. On the provisions of the

achieved.” Noting that the resolution was co-sponsored by

initial declaration of nuclear material made by the Demo-

“must be implemented by all States parties to the Non-

1945 United Nations Charter signed at San Francisco on 26

Caribbean Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone opened for signature:

the number of launchers of strategic weapons.

ing on victims, booby traps and, under a 1996 amendment,

reduce its holding to no more than 5,000 tons of chemical

Convention, the first globally verifiable multilateral disarma-

1996 Last explosive nuclear tests by France (January) and

destruction of existing stocks was agreed as the result of a

only absolute guarantee against the use or threat of use of