Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Treaties: An Ontology of Concepts and Charachteristics

To reduce the risk of proliferation of arms, particularly weapons of mass distruction, a number of international treaties and other agreements and export control regimes have been concluded. Their purpose is to reduce or eliminate certain weapons or weapons systems, to curb the proliferation of weapons and of sensitive, dual-use technologies, or to increase security and build confidence in other ways. Some of these treaties are multilateral and intended to cover all states, some are bilateral at origin. The most important non-proliferation treaties (NPT, CWC, BWC and CTBT) are presented in detail. Also the CFE, an arms control treaty, and the Kyoto Protocol (as an example of verification to protect the environment) are presented. Most of the treaties include technical and institutional measures of verification to prevent or detect possibile violations. The legal and technical aspects of the Treaties and Agreements are compared and an attempt is made to classify the verification provisions with respect to their objectives, scope and technical means. The current world situation, with new and increased security threats, including proliferation of weapons of mass distruction, disruption of critical infrastructure, terrorism or trafficking, will require new international or multilateral instruments, e.g. on security in the supply chain (container security), to counter proliferation of explosives, small arms and man-pads, to deal with cyber-crime etc. The lessons learned from existing Treaties and Agreements can help to draft such new instruments.JRC.G.7-Traceability and vulnerability assessmen