Global Issues: Disarmament

Introduction

Multilateral disarmament and armaments control have been essential to the UN's efforts to uphold international peace and security ever since the organization's founding.

The UN has prioritized lowering and eventually getting rid of nuclear weapons, destroying chemical weapons, and enforcing the ban on biological weapons since they are the ones that pose the greatest dangers to humanity.

While these goals have stayed constant over time, political realities and the global environment have modified the scope of discussions and negotiations.

The excessive and unstable proliferation of small arms and light weapons is still being closely examined by the international community, and action has been taken to stop the widespread use of landmines, which pose a threat to the social and economic fabric of societies and kill and maim a disproportionate number of civilians, disproportionately women and children. It is also more well acknowledged that different types of weapons have varied effects on men, women, boys, and girls.

The UN is also concentrating on the effect of new communications, information, and other developing technologies on global security.

A number of multilateral treaties and instruments have been developed through international efforts with the goal of controlling, limiting, or getting rid of specific weapons. Among them are the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Biological and Chemical Weapons, the Anti-Personnel Landmine Convention, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, and the Treaty on the Arms Trade.

Nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament

The most lethal weapons on earth are nuclear ones. It is possible to completely destroy a city, which might result in the death of millions of people and endanger the environment and the lives of future generations due to its long-lasting devastating effects. These weapons' very existence makes them dangerous.

There are supposedly still 13,080 nuclear weapons in existence today, despite the fact that they have only ever been used in combat twice, and there have already been more than 2,000 nuclear tests. The best defense against such threats is disarmament, but achieving this objective has proven to be a very challenging task.

Since its founding, the UN has worked to ban these weapons. In 1946, the UN General Assembly's first resolution created a Commission to address issues related to, among other things, the discovery of atomic energy. The Commission was tasked with coming up with recommendations, among other things, on how to regulate atomic energy in order to ensure that it is solely used for peaceful purposes.

Since then, a number of multilateral agreements have been made with the objective of halting nuclear testing and proliferation while advancing nuclear disarmament.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), which was signed in 1996 but has not yet come into effect, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons are three of them. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water are two others (TPNW).

Missiles continue to be a focus of increased international attention, discussion, and activity.

The topic of missiles continues to receive more attention, discussion, and involvement on the global scale. As a result of its capacity to swiftly and accurately transport and deliver WMD payloads, missiles are a crucial political and military issue. Additionally, efforts to address the issue in multilateral fora are particularly hampered by the diversity of worldwide viewpoints on missile-related issues.

There isn't currently a multilateral agreement that regulates missiles that is enforceable by law.

Three Panels of Government Experts have been established inside the UN to address the subject of missiles in accordance with General Assembly resolutions. There are currently a number of different international regimes in place that aim to stop the spread of missiles and related technology. Among them are the Missile Technology Control Regime and the Hague Code of Conduct (HCOC) (MTCR).

The international taboo against biological weapons grew out of the horrors of the First World War.

The atrocities of the First World War gave rise to the global taboo against biological weapons. Their use has long been recognized as being against human rights laws and moral principles.

Biological weapons spread pathogens or toxins that can injure or kill people, animals, or plants. They can be extremely contagious and fatal. Such weapons would allow diseases to cross national boundaries and might hasten their global spread.

Dramatic results could result from the intentional release of biological weapons or toxins by state or non-state actors. Such events could result in food shortages, environmental disasters, terrible economic loss, widespread sickness, anxiety, and public mistrust in addition to the tragic loss of life.

With the conclusion of the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972, long-sought efforts to eradicate these weapons of mass destruction finally succeeded.

The creation, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling, and use of biological and toxin weapons are all expressly prohibited by the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). It was the first international disarmament agreement to outlaw a specific class of WMDs .

Use of chemical weapons

With the deployment of deadly gas by both sides of the conflict to inflict excruciating pain and significantly increase the number of casualties on the battlefield during World War I, the modern usage of chemical weapons was born.

These weapons were essentially just common munitions like grenades and artillery shells that had well-known commercial chemicals added to them. Among the chemicals employed were chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene (a choking agent).

The outcomes were indiscriminate and frequently disastrous. The outcome was around 100,000 deaths. Chemical weapons have resulted in more than a million deaths worldwide since World War I.

With the signing of the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1993, long-awaited attempts to eradicate these weapons of mass destruction finally succeeded.

By forbidding the invention, manufacturing, stockpiling, transfer, and use of chemical weapons as well as their resurgence and removal of existing stockpiles, the Convention aspires to completely eradicate a class of WMDs and, in doing so, make the world free from the threat of chemical warfare.

Conventional Weapons

Other than weapons of mass devastation, conventional arms are other weapons. They cover a wide range of weapons, including battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft and uncrewed combat aerial vehicles (UCAV), attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, landmines, cluster munitions, small arms, and light weapons and ammunition. They are the most well-known and frequently used weapons in conflict and criminal situations.

The ownership and use of conventional weapons by UN Member States when done in accordance with international law is not prohibited under the UN Charter. This is the reason why when discussing conventional weapons, the terms "arms control" and "arms restrictions" are more frequently used than "disarmament."

However, some conventional weapons may raise humanitarian concerns due to their design, which renders them incompatible with international humanitarian law, or because of how they are being used or may be used.

Early attempts to solve these issues date back to the 19th century. The 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons is a more modern illustration of legally enforceable rules and restrictions on the use of conventional weapons.

With its five Protocols, the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), a crucial piece of international humanitarian law, aims to prohibit or curtail the use of a number of weapons that cause indiscriminate harm to civilians or unnecessarily torture combatants. These weapons include non-detectable fragments, mines, booby traps, and other devices, incendiary weapons, blinding laser weapons, and explosive remnants of war.

Every day, people die or lose limbs from stepping on a landmine (anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines).

People stumble on landmines every day and lose their lives or limbs as a result (anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines). mostly in peaceful nations; the vast majority of victims are civilians.

This scourge is addressed by the Anti-personnel Landmine Convention, which was adopted in 1997. It forbids the storage, transfer, and use of anti-personnel landmines, mandates that nations remove them from their soil, and directs States in a position to do so to support afflicted nations.

This pact has been ratified by more than 160 nations. Its beneficial effects include a notable decrease in casualties, a rise in the number of mine-free States, destroyed stockpiles, and better victim assistance.

Demining

Over 8,600 people lost their lives in 2017 – more than twice as many as in 2014 – as a result of mines, explosive remnants of conflict, and victim-operated improvised explosive devices. Landmines and other explosive hazards are a constant reminder of hostilities that have been resolved for years or even decades. They are dispersed over about 57 nations and 4 territories.

The UN strives for a world free of landmines and other explosive remains of war, where people live in a secure environment that supports development, and where victims' needs are satisfied. Mine-action initiatives in 30 countries and three territories are supported by twelve UN Departments and Offices of the Secretariat, specialized agencies, funds, and programmes.

Mine action enables peacekeepers to conduct patrols, aid organizations to provide help, and common people to live without the worry that a single mistake could result in their demise.

Landmine clearance is only one aspect of mine action. It entails high-impact initiatives meant to keep people safe, assist victims in becoming self-sufficient, and engage them in their communities.

Mine Action and Effective Coordination: The United Nations Inter-Agency Policy is a cooperative policy development. It directs how the United Nations divides up the work. Nongovernmental organizations handle a lot of the real labor, such as demining and mine risk education. Humanitarian mine-action services are added to this by commercial contractors and, in some circumstances, soldiers. Additionally, a number of intergovernmental, international, and regional organizations in addition to international financial institutions finance initiatives and offer services to people and communities impacted by landmines and other explosive remnants of war.

The UN's mine-related initiatives are coordinated by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS). UNMAS makes sure that the issues of landmines and explosive relics of war, including cluster bombs, are dealt with in an efficient, proactive, and coordinated manner. It establishes regulations and standards while continuously evaluating and monitoring the threat presented by mines and unexploded ordnance. The Service fights for the international abolition of anti-personnel landmines and mobilizes resources in that regard. As part of peacekeeping operations, humanitarian catastrophes, and crises, UNMAS establishes and administers mine-action coordination centers in nations and territories. In recent times, UNMAS has placed a greater emphasis on the danger posed by improvised explosive devices.

Since the 1980s, the UN has tackled the issues caused by landmines. It sponsored the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons as a definitive response to the use of weapons with indiscriminate effects. That Convention was strengthened in 1996 to encompass the use of landmines in intrastate wars and to mandate the detection of all mines.

A comprehensive international agreement was eventually adopted as a result of a growing public outcry and the tenacious efforts of non-governmental organizations involved in the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL).

Anti-personnel mine manufacturing, use, and export are prohibited by the historic 1997 UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Mine-Ban Convention), which has almost universal support. At the end of November 2016, 164 States were parties.

Every year on April 4, the UN observes an International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

The acclaimed actor Daniel Craig was named the first UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards by the UN Secretary-General in 2015.

Cluster Munitions

A hollow shell that is fired from the ground or dropped from the air makes up a cluster munition. Smaller bombs, or submunitions, that can number in the hundreds and cover an area the size of several football fields are released as it splits open in midair. This implies that everyone there, even civilians, faces a risk of harm or death. Even after a fight has finished, smaller explosive submunitions may occasionally fail to detonate, leaving them capable of randomly killing or maiming people.

The use, development, manufacturing, acquisition, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions, as well as the support or encouragement of anyone to engage in forbidden activities, are all illegal under the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In order to stop the spread of these weapons and their use in the future, the Convention offers a comprehensive international response to the suffering brought on by the use of cluster munitions and their byproducts.

Ammunition

If ammunition is not stored properly, it can become unsafe to have it on hand. Over the previous 15 years, unintentional explosions of weapons storage facilities have killed thousands of people in over 100 different countries.

Depots can also serve as a constant source of ammunition being diverted to criminal organizations and armed groups when they are poorly handled, which helps to maintain armed conflict and criminal activities.

The UN seeks to improve whole-life ammunition management through the UN Safeguard Programme, giving people more safety and security.

Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)

The adoption of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) in April 2013 by the General Assembly of the United Nations marked a turning point in the international community’s efforts to regulate the global trade in conventional arms and promote peace and security.

Before the adoption of the ATT, there was no global set of legal rules governing the trade in conventional weapons. The Treaty sets robust international standards to help guide governments in deciding whether or not to authorize arms transfers. It provides for cooperation and assistance to help countries develop adequate regulatory systems and safe weapons stockpiles.

Gender and disarmament

Based on their gender and other circumstances, people are affected and involved in weapons, armed conflict, and issues related to weapons and security in different ways. Processes and strategies for disarmament and armaments control are more effective when the reality encountered by women, men, girls, and boys are taken into account.

The gender aspects of disarmament and arms control are recognized by numerous international institutions and UN resolutions. For instance, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Radioactive Weapons recognizes the disproportionate impact of nuclear radiation on women and girls, and States Parties are legally compelled to analyze how exports of conventional weapons and ammunition can be used to commit gender-based violence.

The first of eleven resolutions on women, peace, and security (WPS) was adopted by the Security Council in 2000. It recognized the disproportionate and special effects of armed conflict on women and girls and called for women's full participation in all peace and security initiatives. In resolution 65/69 (2010) and six additional resolutions on women, disarmament, non-proliferation, and arms control, the General Assembly also calls for a better understanding of the gendered effects of armed conflict and acknowledges the need to promote equality and increase the representation of women in disarmament decision-making.

However, women continue to be underrepresented, making up only around one third of attendees at international disarmament conferences, and even fewer are in charge of delegations.

Agenda for Disarmament, Securing Our Common Future

In his Agenda for Disarmament, Securing Our Common Future, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres describes how young people have been a powerful force for change in the globe, saying that they have "proven their power time and again in favour of the cause of disarmament." Successful international movements to outlaw nuclear weapons, cluster bombs, and landmines have been led by young campaigners. The UN General Assembly reiterated on 12 December 2019 by its unanimity in support of a new resolution titled "Youth, disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control" the significant and beneficial contribution that young people can make to upholding peace and security.

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) launched its youth outreach initiative, "#Youth4Disarmament," in 2019 in recognition of the significance of young people in bringing about change. This initiative aims to engage, educate, and empower young people with the goal of facilitating their meaningful and inclusive participation in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation. The #Youth4Disarmament campaign welcomes youth from various backgrounds, interests, and expertise to meaningfully contribute in Securing our Common Future—one that is safer, more sustainable, and peaceful for everyone—through the combination of educational, creative, and innovative activities.