The United Nations has been a most fervent advocate for general and complete disarmament and arms regulation since its creation. Indeed, the first resolution adopted by the General Assembly in January 1946 identified the goal of eliminating all weapons ‘adaptable to mass destruction’. In working toward this ultimate goal, the UN, through its member states and the Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA), has become increasingly adaptive in responding to the evolving nature of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons development.

Grand efforts to achieve general and complete disarmament in one comprehensive arrangement have given way to pragmatic agreements on parts of the greater cause. Hence, international treaties have been drawn up to create nuclear weapon-free zones in all major regions of the world. Such weapons have been banned from being tested above ground and, when the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) enters into force, even that option will finally be closed. In this connection, it is heartening to note that no tests have been conducted for over 10 years by the nuclear weapon states party to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Efforts have also been underway for decades to prevent the global spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). This year marks the 40th anniversary of the NPT, a significant achievement for a treaty that 189 states have joined, which brings it close to universal membership. Only India, Israel and Pakistan are non-parties and diplomatic efforts are underway to encourage North Korea to resume its membership. The UN Security Council has adopted Resolution 1540, which creates a legal obligation for all states to prevent the proliferation or terrorist acquisition of WMD. The world community has also adopted the Nuclear Terrorism Convention and is actively seeking to improve the physical security of fissile materials. Beyond the nuclear field, there are now multilateral conventions that dissuade the production, possession and proliferation of biological and chemical weapons. An important hallmark of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), for example, is its path-breaking verification system, which has already overseen the physical destruction of over 26 000 tonnes of lethal chemical agents.

With respect to biological weapons, the international community has long recognized the horrific dangers that they pose not only to humans but also to economic assets like crops and livestock. Such concerns led to the conclusion of the 1972 Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), which entered into force in 1975. At the BTWC’s Sixth Review Conference in 2006, an ‘Implementation Support Unit’ was established in the ODA's Geneva office to support the meetings agreed by the Conference, assist national implementation, and promote universal participation in the Convention and confidence-building measures.

More importantly, UN General Assembly Resolution 60/288, adopted in September 2006, calls for a UN global counter-terrorism strategy for the international community which includes ‘preventing and combating terrorism’ and ‘building state capacity to counter terrorism’. This resolution also invites the UN to develop a single comprehensive database on biological incidents, which is intended to serve as a platform for receiving detailed technical information on biological incidents worldwide to assist in preventing and combating bioterrorism and to build state capacity. No such database existed previously, and this new initiative will be a significant contribution to the field.

To be sure, much more needs to be done to meet the UN’s ultimate goal of general and complete disarmament, which includes: (a) more effective controls against the proliferation or possible terrorist acquisition of WMD; (b) nuclear disarmament registered in binding agreements—including at least some preliminary discussion on a nuclear weapons convention—with provisions for transparency, verification, and irreversibility; and (c) the establishment of new multilateral norms in such areas as conventional arms and missiles, and in preventing the development of space weapons. Most importantly, more resources need to be devoted to disarmament—recognizing that, according to SIPRI, the countries of the world are now spending over $1.2 trillion on their militaries each year, in stark contrast to the microscopic sums that are devoted to disarmament activities.

However, these challenges are not insurmountable. There is ample room for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals, substantially expanded work on nuclear weapons verification, and the improvement of nuclear safeguards and physical security. The nuclear disarmament initiative known as the Hoover Plan, offered in 2007 by former US officials George Shultz, William Perry, Henry Kissinger and Sam Nunn, has helped to revive serious international consideration of this vitally important goal.

The CTBT has the possibility of entering into force, perhaps sooner rather than later. There is some potential for the consolidation of regional nuclear weapon-free zones, by expanding their membership in some cases or encouraging the nuclear weapon states to join the protocols to those treaties. The Conference on Disarmament in Geneva may yet agree to commence negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty, and discussions on nuclear disarmament, nuclear security assurances and the prevention of an arms race in outer space might yet evolve into negotiations on new conventions.

These are critically important goals, worthy of our sharpest minds and strongest efforts. In the words of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, ‘The world must cross the bridge between what is and what ought to be’. In other words, the international community must work together and demonstrate its resolve to move from challenges and opportunities to concrete results in global disarmament.