Honorable Delegates,

Welcome to this year’s Disarmament Committee!

As the conference theme is "Building Bridges: A foundation for sustainability and progress" the Disarmament Committee will debate on the issue:

Promoting the fulfillment of consisting disarmament conventions and non-proliferation treaties with special focus on contemporary conflicts.

What disarmament conventions still need to be fulfilled? Why do non-proliferation treaties keep being violated? Which current affairs must be taken into account when discussing this topic? And where can information be found?
These or similar question may occur to you while preparing your resolutions. In the following we will try to answer some of them and give useful inspiration for further research so that this year’s DC is going to experience fruitful debates and extensively-researched resolutions.

In the year 1925 ambassadors from 38 nations met in Geneva to sign the '1925 Geneva Protocol' dealing with the use of asphyxiating, poisonous and other gases. Since then 135 states have ratified this first disarmament convention. Since then it nevertheless has been openly violated in various conflicts. However the United Nations constantly worked on new conventions and non-proliferation treaties to regulate or abolish the manufacture and use of weapons of all kinds with the aim to make this world a safer place. Most importantly four categories have to be mentioned in this context:

1. Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
2. Missiles
3. Land Mines
4. Conventional Arms

First of all, WMDs include biological, chemical and nuclear arms. The global threat caused by them has increased dramatically throughout the last fifteen years as more and more nations seek to be acknowledged as Nuclear Weapon states and already acknowledged countries deny reducing their stockpiles.
Nevertheless, since 1995 five 'Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones' have been founded and several treaties dealing with WMDs have been signed. In accordance with this, you should know the 'Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty' (NPT), the 'Chemical Weapon Convention' (CWC) and the 'Biological Weapon Convention' (BWC).

Secondly, missiles are one of the most destructive arms used regularly in armed conflicts since the Second World War. Within the last decade not only a run for the most powerful missile but also for effective defense methods began. Thus wide-range missiles became a great threat to the world as they can be launched from one country and easily reach another one. Furthermore WMD delivery systems which are missiles carrying WMDs are in the focus of the MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime). This organization was founded in 1987 to control the trade with WMD delivery systems and its technology.

Thirdly, anti-personnel and anti-tank land mines are major measures to hinder armies from entering a certain area or force them to pass another area. That way land mines put a great danger on soldiers. Nevertheless land mines are most harmful when they affect civilians. This is often the case in areas where armed conflicts have recently been solved. As it is very expensive and dangerous to search for hidden land mines they often remain at their place. Today 75 countries are affected by land mines including Afghanistan, Cambodia and Iraq. Therefore it might be necessary to know the ‘United Nations Mine-Ban-Convention’.

Fourthly, conventional arms are most commonly used in armed conflicts today. The term includes warships, battle tanks as well as small arms and assault rifles. One major problem the world faces these days connected with conventional arms is the increasing trade with less developed countries as warlords, syndicates and terrorist groups often choose small and light arms. However conventional arms constitute the biggest parts of national defense. Therefore it’s hard to eradicate this type of arms. Nevertheless the ‘CCWC’, the ‘CFE’ and the ‘Convention on Cluster Munitions’ have been passed.

Now, as our topic puts a special focus on contemporary conflicts you should also know what affairs currently deal with those kinds of arms. Thus the following conflicts might be of special importance for you:

1. Iraq War
2. Afghanistan War
3. Conflict in Middle East
4. Civil War in Congo

Moreover you may take a look at:

1. Pirates in Somalia
2. DPR Korea’s rocket launch
3. US President Obama’s wish for a world without WMDs
4. WMDs in the Middle East
5. Different civil wars

In the first four conflicts different kinds of weapons were used. Most commonly the focus can be put on conventional arms but notwithstanding missiles or land mines have played an important role. Furthermore it’s necessary to examine in what way the use of certain arms depicts a violation of disarmament conventions and non-proliferation treaties.

In addition the last five topics shall give you some inspiration for tackling the DC’s issue. You might think of the reasons for the pirate attacks or civil wars and therewith find possibilities to fulfill certain conventions and treaties.

Starting your research you should thus try to answer the following questions for the country you are representing:

1. Which conventions and treaties has my country signed?
2. How many men are there in our armed forces and how are they supplied?
3. Has my country participated in any armed conflicts? And what about our allies?
4. Has there been a violation of disarmament conventions or non-proliferation treaties we stated our opinion to?
5. What is our over-all attitude towards WMDs, missiles, land mines and conventional arms?

You can also take a look at the following links as they can help you doing your research:

1. http://www.un.org/disarmament/ (Homepage of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs)
2. http://disarmament.un.org/CAB/ (Conventional Arms Branch)
3. http://disarmament.un.org/TreatyStatus.nsf (Here you can check your countries Treaty Status and read the texts of all disarmament conventions)
4. http://www.armscontrol.org/taxonomy/term/31?page=2 (some news concerning conventional arms)
5. http://www.mtcr.info/english/objectives.html (Homepage of the Missile Technology Control Regime)
6. http://www.wmdcommission.org/files/No24.pdf (Report of the WMD commission concerning delivery systems and missiles)
7. http://www.icbl.org (Information about land mines)

Now it’s up to you to research the issue as extensively as you can!

We are looking forward to meeting you in June!!!

Tanja Fischer and Eugenia Andrejuk

dc(at)balmun.de