CNS Subjects: International Treaties & Regimes

Featured Treaty/Regime Topics

Year: Present | 2001 | 2000 | 1990s

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General

  • Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Clearinghouse
    An overview over the most important features of NWFZs and links to basic resources and documents.
    Created: May 13, 2008

  • Pelindaba Treaty Resource Page
    On the 12th anniversary of the signing in Cairo of the African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty, CNS announces a new web-based "Pelindaba Treaty resource page."
    Created: April 11, 2008

  • The Race Towards Entry Into Force of the Pelindaba Treaty: Mozambique Leading the Charge
    Mozambique's recent ratification of the Pelindaba Treaty has renewed hope that a NWFZ in Africa may soon be realized.
    A CNS Feature Story by Jean du Preez.
    Created: March 31, 2008

  • The Perils of Non-Proliferation Amnesia
    An op-ed by William C. Potter and Jayantha Dhanapala for The Hindu.
    Created: August 31, 2007

  • The role of regional and sub-regional organizations in implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1540: a preliminary assessment of the African continent [PDF format]
    This report discusses the framework of African regional and sub-regional organizations and the role they can play implementing resolution 1540.
    A CNS Research Story by Johan Bergenas.
    Created: May 8, 2007

  • Visions of Fission: The Demise of Nuclear Negative Security Assurances [PDF format]
    Paper by Jean du Preez at the Article VI Forum on September 28, 2006, in Ottawa, Canada.
    Created: October 25, 2006

  • A Fissban With Or Without Existing Stocks: To Be Or Not To Be? [PDF format]
    Paper presented by Jean du Preez at the Article VI Forum on September 28, 2006, in Ottawa, Canada.
    Created: October 25, 2006

  • Central Asian States Establish Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Despite U.S. Opposition
    Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed a treaty establishing a Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone on September 8, 2006. While not perfect, the treaty merits support as a commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.
    A CNS Research Story by Scott Parrish and William Potter.
    Updated: September 8, 2006
    Created: September 5, 2006

  • Edging Ever Closer to a Nuclear Death Row
    An op-ed by Steve Andreasen and Dennis Gormley for the Star Tribune.
    Created: April 26, 2006

  • First Committee 2003
    The First Committee of the 58th United Nations General Assembly started voting this week on the 53 draft resolutions submitted covering the full spectrum of issues related to nonproliferation, arms control, disarmament, and international security.
    Research Story of the Week by IONP.
    Created: November 3, 2003

  • Proliferation Security Initiative to Stem Flow of WMD Matériel
    The United States' recently launched Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), the latest element in the Bush administration's emerging strategy of pre-emption to combat proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, is moving forward "at light speed," according to U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bolton.
    Research Story of the Week by Rebecca Weiner.
    Created: July 16, 2003

  • The Duma Ratifies the Moscow Treaty
    On May 14, 2003 the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the Russian parliament), ratified the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (also known as SORT or the Moscow Treaty) by 294 votes against 134 with 22 abstaining.
    Report by Nikolai Sokov.
    May 16, 2003

  • 2003 NPT Preparatory Committee: Business as Usual?
    The second session of the PrepCom thus far, similar to the first session, has progressed in a relatively smooth manner. Several issues have been highlighted, such as security assurances and non-strategic nuclear weapons, with working papers offering concrete and constructive proposals as food for thought. However, real progress and prospects for agreement remain questionable.
    by Jean du Preez.
    Created: May 7, 2003

  • South Korean Electoral Politics and Seoul's Position on the North Korean Nuclear Crisis
    If reports from the Beijing talks that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons are accurate, effective U.S. policy will require close coordination with South Korea and other countries.
    Research Story of the Week by Daniel A. Pinkston.
    Created: April 28, 2003

  • Challenges Facing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime
    Workshop hosted by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies and Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, University of South Hampton.
    Created: April 22, 2003

  • Can Counterproliferation Work?
    UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala speaks to CNS.
    Created: April 17, 2003

  • Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes, 2002 Edition
    The Inventory includes formal organizations, non-charter regimes, multilateral groupings of states, international treaties, and regional and bilateral arrangements. The 2002 edition for the first time also includes 1) international treaties related to terrorism; 2) treaties and agreements designed to prevent the spread of conventional weapons; and 3) specific references to the verification and compliance provisions of relevant organizations and treaties.
    Created: April 16, 2003

  • The Russian Nuclear Arms Control Agenda After SORT
    "When the Russian Duma finally ratifies the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT), will it mark the beginning of a new era of bilateral cooperation between Washington and Moscow or the closing chapter in arms control negotiations between Russia and the United States that sought to regulate the Cold War?"
    An article by Nikolai Sokov for Arms Control Today.
    Created: April 9, 2003

  • The Department of Homeland Security: Goals and Challenges
    On September 20, 2001, in response to the devastating 9-11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush proposed the creation of the Office of Homeland Security (OHS), which came into existence on October 8, 2001.
    An issue brief by Jennifer Mitchell and Jason Pate for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
    Created: April 2003

  • Collapse of the Agreed Framework?
    A White House spokesman declared that North Korea is in "material breach" of the Agreed Framework, and the agreement could now be null and void. It is too early to tell whether the Agreed Framework can be resuscitated because the willingness of both parties to negotiate a new deal is uncertain.
    Research Story of the Week by Daniel A. Pinkston.
    Created: October 21, 2002

  • U.N. First Committee Grapples with Peace and Security Issues
    The First Committee of the 57th United Nations General Assembly started its 2002 session amid growing international skepticism about the continued relevance of multilateral nonproliferation, disarmament, and arms control in the face of narrow self interests, unilateralism, and a general lack of political will.
    Research Story of the Week by Maiko Tamagawa, Evren Sarac, and Jean du Preez.
    Created: October 15, 2002

  • "Dirty Bomb" Threat Awakens Dormant Disarmament Conference
    "If an international institution's efficiency is partly determined by its ability to respond to external shocks and crises, the Jose Padilla controversy may help revive the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD)."
    Research Story of the Week by Daniil Kobyakov and Nicolas Florquin.
    Created: August 28, 2002

  • Book: Nuclear Weapons and Nonproliferation: A Reference Handbook
    Covers the parallel development of nuclear weapons and associated nonproliferation efforts from the start of the U.S. atomic bomb program during WW2 to current debates over nuclear terrorism, the CTBT, missile defenses, and nuclear weapons dismantlement. It also provides a thorough reference on a host of issues related to international nonproliferation treaties and regimes, as well as popular efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
    By Sarah J. Diehl and James Clay Moltz.
    Created: October 11, 2002
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Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC)

  • The BWC New Process: A Preliminary Assessment (PDF format)
    by Jonathan B. Tucker for the forthcoming Spring 2004 Nonproliferation Review.
    Created: April 9, 2004

  • The Biological Weapons Convention
    The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and On Their Destruction (known as the Biological Weapons Convention, or BWC) forms the foundation of the international biological arms control regime. An issue brief by Jenni Rissanen for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
    Created: March 2003

  • Renewed Efforts to Strengthen the BTWC
    The challenge facing the States Parties at the Conference will be to find agreement on this delicately balanced draft decision against the backdrop of a possible total failure of the BTWC review process.
    Research Story of the Week by Jean du Preez and Daniil Korbyakov.
    Created: November 11, 2002

  • Outlook for the Resumed BWC Fifth Review Conference
    Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) has been a topic widely debated within the arms-control community for nearly a decade following the revelation that the former Soviet Union and Iraq had for years operated clandestine offensive biological weapons programs.
    Research Story of the Week by Erika Holey.
    Created: November 4, 2002

  • Assessing U.S. Proposals to Strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention
    An article by Jonathan B. Tucker and Raymond A. Zilinskas for Arms Control Today.
    Created: April 5, 2002

  • The Biological Weapons Convention: Challenges and Opportunities
    At the invitation of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, the Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, John Bolton presented the Bush Administration's views on the Biological Weapons Convention. The meeting was co-chaired by Michael Moodie, Leonard Spector, and Peggy Hamburg.
    Washington D.C. Office 2002 Briefing Series, January 11, 2002
    Created: March 29, 2002

  • The Fifth Review Conference of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC)
    Because the conference took place four months after a negotiating forum of member-states known as the "Ad Hoc Group" had failed to agree on a legally binding Protocol for checking compliance with the BWC, a key objective of the Review Conference was to identify alternative strategies for strengthening the Convention. An issue brief by Jonathan Tucker for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
    Created: February 2002
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Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

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Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)

  • The Future of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
    The current budgetary crisis at the PrepCom for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization threatens to further diminish prospects for the CTBT's entry into force. However, recent political developments may breathe new life into the treaty.
    CNS Feature Story by Keegan McGrath, Stephanie Bobiak and Jean du Preez.
    Created: March 7, 2008

  • Third Conference on CTBT Entry into Force Adjourns
    With the recent conclusion of the third Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in Vienna on 5 September, the prospects for the entry into force of the CTBT do not appear good.
    Research Story of the Week by Emily Schroeder.
    Created: September 25, 2003

  • Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
    The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), described as the "longest sought and hardest fought for arms control treaty in history," was opened for signature in September 1996. The CTBT obligates countries that sign and ratify "not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion." An issue brief by Lawrence Scheinman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI).
    Updated: April 2003
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Export Controls

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Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)

See the NPT Resources page for comprehensive coverage
Features articles and documents related to the NPT Review Conference prepared by CNS experts, authoritative governmental officials, experts from other leading research institutes as well as reports of CNS NPT Workshops.
Updated: April 24, 2007

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