Assessment of the Progression of the Withdrawal of Weapons and Military Forces in the World

Assessment of the Progression of the Withdrawal of Weapons and Military Forces in the World This is my research paper on disarmament. It contains breifly all the important steps taken in the feild of disarmament till recently. Introduction Prof. Lincoln P. Bloomfield aptly remarked that, A visitor from another, more advanced planet would find many paradoxes on earth, but surely the most extraordinary would be the fantastic destructive potential of nuclear weapons which contrasts starkly with the primitive and near impotent institutions of global peacekeeping. He might marvel that a breed capable of producing the wealth for a 185 billion armory of lethal devices let alone the technology for killing several hundred in a single exchange of weapons had not produced a workable international order capable of regulating such apocalyptic man-made power. . Also no such International Order exists today and the prospects are not encouraging that it will exist within the foreseeable future. Dr. Hambro has also rightly remarked The armament race comes as close to collective insanity as anything in the history of mankind and it is, to my mind, surprising that public opinion is willing to take it. Disarmament has become a more urgent and complicated issue with the rapid development of nuclear weapons capable of mass destruction. Since the explosion of the first atomic bombs in 1945, the previous contention that armaments races were economically inexpedient and led inevitably to war was replaced by the argument that the future use of nuclear weapons in quantity threatened the continued existence of civilization itself. It was understood that war was unnecessary and nations of the world also understood the urgent need to part with these deadly weapons. The League of Nations writes Philip Noel Baker, is the first attempt in history to furnish the international society of nations with the permanent and organic system of international political institutions. This attempt was an outcome of the world war. In the post-World War II period, there were discussions at several levels with a view to the limitation and control of armaments. Efforts ranged from continuous talks at the United Nations to such discussions among nuclear powers from the SALT era to the START era and it still continues What is Disarmament? Disarmament is defined as the act of laying down arms, especially reduction or abolition of a nations military forces and armaments. It is not a new concept. It has been discussed for several centuries even before the formation of League of Nations. The idea of disarmament can be traced from the writings of Sully, William Penn, Rousseau and Kant. But plans for its implementation have failed because no State was willing to pay the price that was required (i.e. to reduce there armaments and military force). The proposal of Russian Czar to Lord Castlereagh of Great Britain in 1816, however, was the first practical attempt to achieve quantitative disarmament. French monarch also made similar proposals in 1831 and on several other occasions, but with no success. The International Peace Conference at Hague in 1899 is the first great landmark in the field of disarmament because it invoked for the specific purpose of limiting armaments by national agreement. Yet another landmark was the treaty of Versailles, which drastically reduced the German armaments. Thus during 19th century and down to the time of the First World War, numerous efforts were made to achieve the limitation and reduction of national armaments by international agreements. Although there had been a great number of discussions, conventions and proposals for disarmament, the ones that claimed success were few. It had been rightly observed by an eminent author: Disarmament efforts have been many, the successive few and limited. There has never been an approach to what Cohen calls effective disarmament. Disarmament and The League of Nations The Covenant of League of Nations was adopted as a part of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. It came into existence on January 10 1920 with 18 member states. According to Philip Noel Baker, the League of Nations is the first attempt in history to furnish the international society of nations with the permanent and organic system of international political institutions. This attempt was an outcome of the world war. As the League was adopted just after the world war, the framers selected achievement of widespread disarmament as its fundamental goal. Finally, the Disarmament Conference met on February 2, 1932, in Geneva. The representatives of 61 States, who participated, agreed on necessity of arms limitation, of international supervision of the arms business and of publicity of arms budget. Though the Conference failed in reconciling the French demand for security and German demand for status of equality with other European nations, it proved to be useful in solving some technical problems of the disarmament. It also became evident that the concept of security was of greater than the concept of limiting arms i.e. to say disarmament must follow rather than precede security. However the League of Nations was considered unsuccessful in achieving the concept of widespread disarmament. The efforts of the League failed on multifarious grounds. Some of the reasons of the failure of League in achieving widespread disarmament are as follows: League of Nations was not universal. It was limited to a few nations. It didnt have any effective enforcement body. The Conference for disarmament was held too late under very hostile conditions. The major reason however was that there was no unity between the nations which were members of the League. They were hostile towards each other. The rise of Hitler and the efforts of Germany in re-arming proved that League was a failure in achieving Disarmament and peace. Finally, the League of Nations was dissolved in 1946. Disarmament and The United Nations Inefficiency of the League of Nations led to the Second World War in 1939, which was the most destructive among the two. The result of the Second World War compelled the nations to establish an international organization so that mutual disputes could be resolved peacefully and peace be restored in the world. This lead to the establishment of United Nations Organization in 1945. United Nations was far more effective and efficient in promoting widespread disarmament as compared to League. It also had a greater number of member nations and a better enforcement body. The Charter of the UN provides for the regulation of armaments. The provisions of disarmament in the UN Charter are as follows: The Charter empowers the General Assembly to consider the general principles of co-operation in the maintenance of the peace and security, including the principles governing disarmament and the regulation of armaments. The Assembly can also make recommendation with regard to such principles to the Members of the Security Council. Secondly, it is further provided that in order to promote the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion to armaments, the Security Council with the assistance of the Military Staff Committee (referred to in Article 47) can formulate plans for regulation of armaments. Thus the Charter aims to provide security along with the regulation of armaments by granting military powers to the U.N under Article 43. However it has to be noted that the special agreements in the Article 43 have not materialized till today. The Military Staff Committee has ceased to function and hence it never dealt in regulation of armaments. Thirdly, in order to enable the U.N. to take urgent military measures, the Charter enjoins the members to hold immediately available national air force contingents, for combined international enforcement action. However the first important step of the U.N in the field of Disarmament was of adopting a resolution on January 24, 1946, which established the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission. The function of this Commission was to regulate and reduce nuclear weapons. On June 24, 1946, United States presented a plan known as the Baruch Plan to the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission. This plan envisaged the establishment by treaty an International Atomic Development Authority which was to own, operate, manage and license all facilities for the production of atomic energy. The aim of the United States by this plan was to establish a control system independent of the Charter and the Atomic Energy Commission, which included inspection and verification of weapons especially nuclear weapons before taking major steps towards Disarmament. But this was opposed by the Soviet Union, which stuck firmly to the original Charter. The Soviet Union insisted for prior outlawing of atomic weapons and reduction of all weapons without effective international control by means of inspection. Consequently, a compromise was made by laying down certain principles, which governed the general regulation and reduction of armam ents. However when the US monopoly of nuclear weapons ended in 1949, Baruch Plan lost its importance. So a need was felt to form a body for regulation of weapons that too mainly nuclear weapons. This need led to the establishment of Disarmament Commission by the 6th General Assembly in 1952. This consolidated the U.N. Atomic Energy Commission and the U.N. Commission for Conventional Armaments. Soviet Union and the Western Allies constituted the five-power sub-committee of Disarmament Commission. Also in October 1956, another body namely International Atomic Energy Agency was established. The Agency aims to seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. It comprises of three organs namely General Conference, A Board of Governors and Staff headed by the Director General. The most important and difficult task faced by it is inspection and safeguarding of fissionable materials. The Agency is neither related to U.N. nor is an independent inter-governmental organisation. It has a special status under the aegis of the U.N. Disarmament Efforts from 1960 to 1970 Though 15 years had passed after the establishment of the United Nations, there were no significant or important steps taken for the purpose of Disarmament till 1960. The year 1960 witnessed a turning point in the disarmament debates when there was a thaw in the relation between the two super powers namely United States of America and The Soviet Union. The consequence of this thaw was the signing of four important treaties, which dealt with Disarmament. These treaties were as follows: Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) On 5th of August 1963, The Partial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT), also known as Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) was signed in Moscow by the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Finally 113 Countries became part to it, which included India, Italy etc. However, France and China did not sign this treaty. The treaty required the Parties to prohibit, prevent, and abstaining from carrying out nuclear weapons tests or any other nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, in outer space, under water, or in any other environment, if such explosions cause radioactive debris to be present outside the territorial limits of the State that conducts an explosion. However this treaty does not provide for international verification and it is understood that each party may do so by its own national technical means. Outer Space Treaty (1967) The Legal Subcommittee considered the Outer Space Treaty in 1966 and agreement was reached in the General Assembly in the same year. The Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository Governments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967. The Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework on international space law, including the following disarmament principles: States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner. The Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes; States shall avoid harmful contamination of space and celestial bodies. 98 States have ratified, and an additional 27 have signed the Outer Space Treaty The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (1967) The Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (also known as the Treaty of Tlatelolco) obligates Latin American parties not to acquire or possess nuclear weapons, nor to permit the storage or deployment of nuclear weapons on their territories by other countries. This Treaty was signed on February 14 1967, at a regional meeting of Latin American countries at Tlatelolco, a section of Mexico City. Non Proliferation Treaty (1968) The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also referred to as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), obligates the five acknowledged nuclear-weapon states (the United States, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, France, and China) not to transfer nuclear weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, or their technology to any non-nuclear-weapon state. Non-nuclear-weapon States Parties undertake not to acquire or produce nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices. They are required also to accept safeguards to detect diversions of nuclear materials from peaceful activities, such as power generation, to the production of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. This must be done in accordance with an individual safeguards agreement, concluded between each non-nuclear-weapon State Party and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Under these agreements, all nuclear materials in peaceful civil facilities under the jurisdiction of the state must be declar ed to the IAEA, whose inspectors have routine access to the facilities for periodic monitoring and inspections. If information from routine inspections is not sufficient to fulfill its responsibilities, the IAEA may consult with the state regarding special inspections within or outside declared facilities. The Treaty was opened for signature on 01 July 1968, and signed on that date by the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and 59 other countries. However, India refused to sign this treaty on the ground that it was discriminatory and unequal. Disarmament Decade (1970 -1980) The decade of 1970 was declared by the United Nations as the Disarmament Decade. The U.N. Agency that has been mostly involved with the goal of Disarmament was the 26 Nations U.N. Conference on the Committee on Disarmament. It celebrated its 10th anniversary in March 1970. It was very heartening to note that the U.Ns Disarmament Decade began auspiciously with the coming into force on 5th March 1970 of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The decade also witnessed the signing of a number of treaties. They are as follows: Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof. This treaty was opened for signature at London, Moscow and Washington from 11 February 1971 and it came into force on 18 May 1972. The Treaty read as follows The States Parties to this Treaty undertake not to implant or emplace on the seabed and the ocean floor and in the subsoil thereof beyond the outer limit of a sea-bed zone, any nuclear weapons or any other types of weapons of mass destruction as well as structures, launching installations or any other facilities specifically designed for storing, testing or using such weapons. However it has to be noted that the treaty prohibited only the placement and fixation of weapons on the seabed and is silent about mobile launchers and submarines, which are likely to remain a principle means of nuclear warfare. Thus it is evident that treaties dealing with nuclear disarmament that were made by U.S.A and Russia had the aim of preventing the non-nuclear countries from acquiring atomic weapons, rather than to regulating and giving up of their own armaments. Hence India did not sign this treaty, which was one-sided. In-spite of all this limitations, this treaty succeeded from barring nuclear weapons from 70% of the earths surface, which was a significant contribution towards disarmament efforts. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) Strategic Arms Limitation Talks took place between U.S.A and the Soviet Union on May 1972. The aim of these talks was to find a way for both sides to agree on plans that would limit and perhaps some day reduce their vast nuclear arsenals. However this agreement permitted both the countries to replace existing offensive nuclear missiles with more sophisticated weapons as technological advance permits. Hence it was said by the Chinese Chief Mr. Chiao Kua Hua that Soviet American agreement to limit Strategic Arms be in no way regarded as a step towards nuclear disarmament. On the contrary, it marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Soviet American arms race. Convention on the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological and Toxin Weapon and on their Destruction. This convention was drafted by the conference of the committee on Disarmament and was commenced by the General Assembly on December 16 1971. On April 10 1972, it was opened for signature with a special request of the then Secretary General Kurt Waldheim that the convention may be signed and ratified as early as possible. The aim of the treaty was to promote general disarmament and for that purpose, it prohibited development, production and stockpiling of chemical and bacteriological (biological) weapons. Geneva Disarmament Conference (1974) It began on 17 April 1974 with 25 nations participating. The aim of this conference was to prohibit the use of nuclear weapons under the ground. It also dealt in making an agreement regarding Chemical Weapons. Special Session of General Assembly on Disarmament (1978) The Special Session on Disarmament was held by the General Assembly from 23rd May to 1st July 1978 at United Nations Headquarters. Before the end of the session, a Final Document consisting of an Introduction, a Declaration, a Programme of Action, and Recommendations concerning the international machinery for disarmament negotiations. Under the Programme of Action, the Assembly set out a series of suggestions for negotiation and in Declaration, which is the part of the Final Document, it urged that the resources released through disarmament be used to promote the well being of all peoples and to improve the economic conditions of developing countries. The main aim of this Session was to strengthen the international disarmament negotiating machinery. Disarmament Efforts after 1980 After 1980, there was a revolution of technology. It affected almost all the fields including the field of armaments. With the development of technology, new types of weapons with immense destructive capacities were invented. Hence it was necessary to promote disarmament and regulate the creation of these armaments. Following are the important developments in the field of disarmament, which took place after 1980. Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons that may be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (1981) It dealt with the prohibition of very harmful conventional weapons. These included prohibition of weapons that emitted radiation harmful to human body, prohibition and regulation of mines, booby traps, incendiary weapons (weapons that cause fire when used) and blinding laser weapons. Rarotonga Treaty (1985) In 1983, 16 years after the Treaty of Tlatelolco was opened for signature, Australia proposed to establish a nuclear weapon free zone in the South Pacific. As a result of the negotiations between the concerned States, a treaty was signed on August 6, 1985, in the city of Rarotonga, capital of the Cook Islands, establishing the proposed zone. Treaty on Open Skies (1992) The Treaty on Open Skies entered opened for signature on 24 March 1992, currently has 34 States Parties. The Treaty established a regime of unarmed aerial observation flights over the entire territory of its participants. The Treaty was designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, a direct role in gathering information about military forces and activities of concern to them. Treaty on Open Skies is one of the most wide-ranging international efforts to date to promote openness and transparency of military forces and activities. Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1995) Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) was adopted as a result of the Geneva Conference, which took place in June 1995. This treaty was adopted with the view of removing the shortcomings of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. It contained a comprehensive plan to prohibit nuclear tests. However, it was silent on the question regarding the destruction of already existing nuclear stockpiles. However this treaty was flouted by America by developing a super nuclear weapon capable of destroying targets placed under the ground. On the one hand, America has been pressurizing other countries to sign the treaty and on the other hand, it has been developing destructive nuclear weapons. These types of stand taken by America were severely criticized by many countries including India. Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction (1997) This treaty is also known as Ottawa Treaty and was proposed by Canada. The main aim of the treaty was to destroy all types of Anti Personnel mines. The treaty also required that besides stopping the production and development of mines, a party to the treaty must destroy all the mines in its possession within 4 years. Just a small number of mines are allowed to remain for training (mine-clearance, detection, etc.). India and Disarmament Since Independence, India has consistently pursued the objective of global disarmament based on the principles of universality, non-discrimination and effective compliance. Given the horrific destructive capacity of nuclear weapons, India has always believed that a world free of nuclear weapons would enhance both global security and Indias own national security. Thus India has always advocated that the highest priority be given to nuclear disarmament as a first step towards general and complete disarmament. In 1978, India proposed negotiations for an international convention that would prohibit the use of threat of use of nuclear weapons. This was followed by another initiative in 1982 calling for a nuclear freeze i.e. prohibition on the production of fissile material for weapons, on production of nuclear weapons, and related delivery systems. At the special sessions of the United Nations General Assembly on disarmament, India put forward a number of serious proposals including the 1988 Comprehensive Plan for total elimination of weapons of mass destruction in a phased manner. It was a matter of regret that the proposals made by India along with several other countries did not receive a positive responsive and instead, a limited and distorted non-proliferation agenda, meant above all to perpetuate nuclear weapons was shaped. India didnt sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty because India considered these treaties as discriminatory and unequal. Both of these treaties were put forward by the nuclear power U.S.A, which later flouted these treaties. Thus according to India, these treaties were the ways designed by the nuclear powers to keep away nuclear know-how from non-nuclear states. However India has signed and ratified other treaties and conventions like Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention etc. This shows that India is an active country, which supports and takes actions for the promotion of disarmament. Conclusion Thus to conclude, it can be said that disarmament process is a very difficult one, but is very important in promoting international peace and security. However, complete disarmament can be obtained only if there is no threat to security of a nation or an individual and to achieve this task, there should be a strict and organized international order and absence of terrorist organizations. Unless this is achieved, the concept of disarmament will remain as the monopoly of the powerful nation to suppress other nations. The U.S attack on Iraq is a fresh example of this.