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Disarmament and Arms Control Treaties
Existing Treaties
Antarctic
Treaty - 1959. The Antarctic Treaty, signed by 12 countries,
prohibits nuclear explosions and the disposal of radioactive wastes
on Antarctic, subject to future ageements.
Anti-Ballistic
Missile (ABM) Treaty - 1972-2002. The Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty was a bilateral agreement between the US and USSR under which
each promise to establish no more than one ABM site on their national
territory. It bans the testing, development and deployment of sea-,
air-, space-, and mobile land-based systems. The plan for a defensive
umbrella over the entire United States, first proposed under the
Reagan administration, would have violated the treaty; the ballistic
missile defense systems under development would still violate the
treaty, since the plan involves more than one system, could involved
sea-based missiles, and will be shared with other nations. The US
withdrew from the ABM in 2002, despite enormous national and international
objections.
Biological
and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) - 1975. The Biological
Weapons Convention entered into force in 1975 and has over 125 signtories.
It builds on the protocols of the Geneva conventions that banned
the use of gas in war. It is the first treaty to ban an entire category
of mass destruction weapons. However, the BWC has no verification
provisions. A verification protocol has been under negotiations
since 1995 and will be submitted to states parties sometime in 1999.
Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC)
- 1993. The CWC opened for signature in 1993 and entered
into force in April 1997. It has many signatories, including the
US, Russia, and China. It bans the "development, production,
stockpiling and use of chemical weapons" (earlier agreements
only banned the use). The treaty contains an extensive list of banned
chemicals and precursors and provides for an elaborate and intrusive
verification regime.
Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) - 1996. The CTBT bans all nuclear
weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion, establishes
an extensive International Monitoring System, and allows for short-notice
on-site inspections. It was opened for signature in 1996, but has
not yet entered into force. Under the terms of the treaty, all forty-four
countries with nuclear power plants must sign and ratify before
it enters into force.
Convention
on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) - 1983. The Convention
on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional
Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indescriminate Effects entered into force in 1983. The treaty bans
incendiary weapons and weapons that produce fragments not detectable
by x-ray, but only place modest restrictions on land mines. The
failure of the treaty body to ban landmines (although it did ban
laser weapons at the 1996 meeting) encouraged NGOs and governments
to call for a special treaty banning landmines.
Convention
on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material - 1980. The
Convention, signed in Vienna and in New York on March three, 1980,
entered into force on February eight, 1987. Till date, there are
70 countries which are participating member States.The Convention
provides a legal basis to physical protection measures for nuclear
material that have been evolved over time by the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA). It provides a framework for international
cooperation against theft or unauthorised diversion of nuclear materials
and obliges States parties to ensure physical protection of nuclear
material during international transport.
Environmental
Modification Convention (ENMOD) - 1977. The Convention on
the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental
Modification Techniques attempts to prohibit military or any other
hostile use of environmental modification techniques. The Convention
defines environmental modification techniques as "changing
-- through the deliberate manipulation of natural processes -- the
dynamics, composition or structure of the earth, including its biota,
lithosphere, hydro-sphere, and atmosphere, or of outer space."
Changes in weather or climate patterns, in ocean currents, or in
the state of the ozone layer or ionosphere, or an upset in the ecological
balance of a region are some of the effects which might result from
the use of environmental modification techniques.
Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) - 1992. The Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe limited conventional armaments in Europe
to under 40,000 battle tanks, 60,000 armoured combat vehicles, 40,000
pieces of artillery, 13,600 combat aircraft and 4,000 helicopters.
Russia suspended its observance of its CFE Treaty obligations in
2007.
Intermediate
Nuclear Forces INF - 1987. The INF Treaty seeks to eliminate
the US and Russia's land-based intermediate- and shorter-ranges
missiles. In October 2007, the US and Russia released a joint
statement on the INF Treaty. (See an NGO perspective on the
statement here.)
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) - 1968. The NPT contains the only binding commitment
to nuclear disarmament in a multilateral treaty on the part of the
nuclear weapon states, in Article VI. The NPT's "grand bargain"
states that the nuclear weapon states pledge to disarm, whilt non-nuclear
weapon states pledge never to acquire nuclear weapons. 190 governments
have ratified the Treaty (though there are 189 States Parties, as
North Korea withdrew from the Treaty after it ratified it).
Ottawa
Convention (aka Mine Ban Treaty) - 1997. The Convention
on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer
of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction opened for signature
in December 1997 and entered into force on March 1, 1999 - the most
rapid ratification process of any major arms control treaty. The
Treaty is notable on several counts: it is the first treaty to ban
a class of weapon in wide use; it combines elements of humanitarian
and arms control law (meaning, among other things, individuals rather
than just states have rights and responsibilities under the treaty);
and it came about as a result of a coalition of NGOs and mid-size
governments without the participation of the major military powers.
Major landmines producers including the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan
have not signed the treaty.
Outer
Space Treaty (OST) - 1967. The Outer Space Treaty has been
signed and ratifed by the US, UK, USSR, France, India, and 58 others.
It prohibits nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction from being
placed in space (including Earth orbit).
Partial
Test Ban Treaty (PTBT) - 1963. The Limited Test Ban Treaty
banned all but underground nuclear explosions. The US, USSR, and
UK are signatories (they wrote it and are the depositories). It
was negotiated in 6 weeks.
Seabed
Treaty - 1971. This treaty prohibits the placement of nuclear
weapons or weapons of mass destruction on the seabed and ocean floor
beyond a 12 mile coastal zone. It entered into force in 1972 and
multiple review conferences have upheld the treaty. 66 states have
ratified, including US, UK, USSR, China, but not France.
Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) - 1972. The United States
and the Soviet Union engaged in talks from 1969 to 1972, during
which they negotiated the first agreements to place limits and restraints
on some of their central and most important armaments, such as the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and the Interim Agreement on strategic
offensive arms.
Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty II (SALT II) - 1979. The second Strategic
Arms Limitation Treaty increased limits on intercontinental ballistic
missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs),
and heavy bombers. Other limits were placed on multiple re-entry
vehicles and bombers with intermediate-range missiles. SALT II was
to remain in effect through 1985, but it was never ratified, and
was then supplanted by the START negotiations.
Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty I (START I) 1991, 1992. The Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and the USSR limits the number
of heavy bombers, ICBMs, and SLBMs, and also limits launchers and
warheads. It prohibits both states from deploying more than 6000
nuclear warheads on a total of 1600 delivery systems, and the ballistic
missile throw-weight (lifting power) is limited to 3600 metric tons.
Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty II (START II) - 1993. The second Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty between the US and Russia limits their strategic
arsenals to 3000-3500 warheads on delivery systems (tactical weapons
and spares are not included in the counts). It also prohibits multiple
re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) on intercontinental ballistic missiles,
and limits the number of warheads deployable on submarine-launched
ballistic missiles to 1700-1750. START II has not entered into force:
when the US withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002, Russia declared
START null and void the following day. It was replaced by SORT in
2002.
Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty III (START III). Discussions began
between the US and Russia in 2007 to further reduce nuclear arsenals
to 2000-2500 each, though it is unlikely negotiations will begin,
as Russia withdrew from START II in 2002.
Strategic
Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) - 2002. Also known as
the Moscow Treaty, SORT limits the nuclear arsenal of both the US
and Russia to 1700-2200 warheads each. It does not specify which
warheads are to be reduced or how reductions should be made, nor
does in include any verification provisions. It came into force
on 1 June 2003, and is set to expire 31 December 2012.
Threshold
Test Ban Treaty - TTBT - 1974. Signed by US and USSR, the
Threshold Test Ban Treaty limited nuclear explosions to 150 kilotons.
Treaty
of Bankok - 1995. The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free
Zone entered into force in 1997 and prohibits the development, testing,
stationing, transport, manufacture, and possession of nuclear weapons,
and prohibits the dumping of waste in the region. It allows nuclear
energy. US, UK, Russia, France, and China do not support this treaty.
Treaty
of Pelindaba - 1996. The African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone
is not yet ratified, although it has 49 reional signatories, including
the US, Frace, UK, Russia, and China. It prohibits all nuclear weapons
in NWFZ and requires destruction of any nuclear devices. It calls
on nuclear weapons states to provide assurances that they will not
use nuclear weapons against the states party to the Treaty.
Treaty
of Rarotonga - 1985. The South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone
prohibits the manufacture, possesssion, or testing of nuclear devices,
and prohibits dumping of nuclear waste. It entered into force in
1986.
Treaty
of Tlatelolco - 1967. The Treaty for the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons in Latin America prohibits testing, production,
possiession, or acquisition of nuclear weapons in the Latin American
nuclear weapon free zone. In Protocol II, nuclear weapons states
party to the treaty cannot use or threaten to use nuclear weapons
against parties to the protocol. This was the first treaty to exclude
nukes from an inhabited region of the globe.
Possible Future Treaties
Arms Trade
Treaty (ATT)
Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT)
Nuclear
Weapons Convention (NWC)
Prevention
of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space (PPWT)
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