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Unit 18The United Nations Disarmament MachineryChapter 8: Summary and Further Reading
All chapters
  1. 0. A Message from the Author
  2. 1. Introduction
  3. 2. Constructing the Disarmament Machinery
  4. 3. Central Components
  5. 4. Supporting Bodies
  6. 5. Accomplishments and Shortcomings
  7. 6. The Disarmament Machinery and the European Union
  8. 7. Quiz
  9. 8. Summary and Further Reading
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Chapter 8

Summary and Further Reading

Since its creation, the UN has been at the forefront of the global effort to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and to regulate the trade of small arms and light weapons. To achieve these goals, it established UN Disarmament Machinery, a set of multilateral processes, procedures and international bodies to address disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control issues.

EUNPDC, CC BY-NC-CD 2.0.

Core instutions of the Disarmament Machinery include:

  • the General Assembly First Committee, which debates, drafts and adopts disarmament-related resolutions
  • the UN Disarmament Commission, which deliberates basic disarmament concepts and principles and makes recommendations
  • the Conference on Disarmament (CD), which negotiates and adopts multilateral treaties

The Disarmament Machinery is supported by a series of institutions which conduct research, convene experts’ meetings, and monitor the implementation of non-proliferation and disarmament treaties. It includes:

  • The secretary-general of the UN
  • The UN Security Council
  • The UN Institute for Disarmament Research
  • The Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters
  • UN Office for Disarmament Affairs and its regional centers
  • The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization
  • The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
  • The International Atomic Energy Agency

While over the years the UN Disarmament Machinery and its related institutions have been subjected to growing criticism, it is undeniable that it has played a fundamental role in shaping the arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament agenda and in providing a framework for the adoption of groundbreaking and extraordinarily forward-looking multilateral treaties.

Further Reading

General

  • Duarte, S. (2013) How to Revitalize Disarmament Efforts. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • European External Action Service (2020): Conference on Disarmament - EU Opening Statement
  • Blix, H. et al. (2006) Weapons of Terror: Freeing the World of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Arms, Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission.
  • Krause, K. (2018) Arms Control and Disarmament, The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations.
  • Lewis, P. & Thakur, R. (2004) Arms Control, Disarmament and the United Nations. Disarmament Forum 1, 17-28.
  • Morales Pedraza, J. (2015) The Reform of the United Nations Disarmament Machinery. Public Organization Review, 16(3), 319-334.

Criticism

  • Nakamitsu, I. (2019) Global Military Spending Has Doubled but the World Is No Safer, Time.
  • Non-Aligned Movement(2016) Proposal on the Objectives of the Fourth Special Session Devoted to Disarmament.
  • Potter, W. (2016) The Unfulfilled Promise of the 2015 NPT Review Conference. Survival 58(1), 151–178.
  • The Netherlands (2019) Working Paper: Back to Basics - the Programme of Work. Conference on Disarmament.
  • UN General Assembly (2012) Taking Forward Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament Negotiations.
  • UNIDIR (2010) Disarmament Machinery. A Fresh Approach.
  • UNIDIR (2011) Nuclear Disarmament in the Conference on Disarmament.
  • UNODA (2016) Rethinking General and Complete Disarmament in the Twenty-first Century, Occasional Papers No. 28.
  • UNODA (2018) Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda For Disarmament.

The EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament eLearning Course aims to cover all aspects of the EU non-proliferation and disarmament agenda. It's produced by PRIF with financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of individual learning units are the sole responsibility of the respective authors and don't necessariy reflect the position of the European Union.