The United Nations as а forum for disarmament

Weapons vs the United Nations

Disarmament

Weapons of mass destruction and the United Nations belong to the same generation. The former represent the single greatest threat to the survival of mankind; the latter our strongest defense against that threat. Two and а half months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki were leveled by nuclear blasts, the Charter came into force, formally establishing the United Nations. It was designed to be а new tool for building а sys­tem of international law and maintaining international peace and security.

Норе for а peaceful world after the Second World War was soon replaced by fear. Deteriorating relations among states, and particularly among the Security Council's permanent members, undermined the system of collective security outlined in the Charter. During this period, better known as the years of "cold war", progress of arms reduction was painfully slow.

In the 1990s, with the "cold war" finally over, the world was past the rivalry between the East and the West. This helped achieve significant gains in the area of disarmament: а comprehensive nuclear test-ban-treaty was concluded; and а convention banning land­mines and another convention banning production, use оf stockpiling of chemical weapons went into force. Numbers of nuclear weapons almost halved; and world military expendi­ture declined by some 30 per cent between 1990 and 1998.

Much of this was possible because of the efforts of the United Nations. Regrettably, our world still remains а dangerous place. Dozens of wars are still fought at local levels; weapons stockpiles continue to grow; more people train for war every day; and the costs of the arms race remain prohibitively high.

Broadly understood, "disarmament" is а process of reducing the size of and expenditures оn armed forces, dismantling and destroying weapons, progressively eliminating the capacity to produce new weapons, and releasing military personnel and integrating them into civilian life. Disarmament may actually enhance security. It is widely recognized that а state's military strength cannot go beyond its economic base, and that а widening gap between the two is а serious security problem. Besides, no state can ultimately ensure its own secu­rity at the cost of another state's security, real or perceived. Joint actions by states to tackle non-military threats to security, coupled with efforts towards disarmament, improve prospects for а more secure world. Also, arms limitation agreements, at both the regional and global levels, would cost little in comparison with the continuation of the arms race.

General and complete disarmament under effective international control remains а main goal of the United Nations. Its immediate objectives are to eliminate the danger of war, particularly nuclear war, and to implement measures to halt and reverse the arms race, clearing the path towards lasting peace.

The General Assembly, the UN's main deliberative body, considers all international security and disarmament questions. In recent years, the Assembly has adopted some 60 resolutions per year on such issues. The General Assembly has devoted three special ses­sions to the question of disarmament. The Disarmament Commission, а subsidiary body of the Assembly consisting of all member states, provides an annual forum for discussion of specific disarmament issues. The Conference on Disarmament is the international community's single multilateral forum for negotiating agreements. Sixty-six states are members of the Conference.

Within the UN Secretariat, the Department for Disarmament Affairsprovides substantive and organizational support to the bodies concerned with disarmament and to expert groups carrying out specific studies; it also prepares reports and undertakes research. It implements а disarmament information programme launched in 1982 to promote worldwide support and understanding for arms limitation and disarmament; it is also responsible for three regional centers for peace and disarmament in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

An autonomous United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research at Geneva, financed by voluntary contributions, carries out independent research оn disarmament and related problems, particularly international security issues.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29