Securing Our Common Future: An Agenda for Disarmament

98 Pages·2018·1.78 MB·English

by  United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs

The cover depicts Orizuru, an origami paper crane. The Japanese legend has it that, if anyone
folds a thousand paper cranes, his or her wish will be granted by the gods. Sadako Sasaki was
two years old when an atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima in 1945. She was caught in black rain and
developed leukaemia 10 years later. At her hospital bed, Sadako was folding over a thousand
cranes, praying for her recovery. She died at the age of 12, but her story of folding thousands of
cranes spread around the world. Origami cranes have become symbols of peace. The paper
crane on the cover was attached to a peace tapestry created by students and teachers from
Nutley High School in New Jersey, United States of America, who came to the United Nations
Headquarters in observance of United Nations Day on 24 October 2017.
Photo credits: Cover: UN Photo/Cia Park Foreword: UN Photo/Evan Schneider
SECURING OUR COMMON FUTURE
An Agenda for Disarmament
Office for Disarmament Affairs
New York, 2018
Electronically available in PDF and e-book formats from
www.un.org/disarmament/sg-agenda
United Nations Publication
Sales No. E.18.IX.6
ISBN 978-92-1-142329-7
eISBN 978-92-1-047209-8
Copyright © 2018 United Nations
All rights reserved worldwide
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Foreword
Executive summary
Part I THE NEED FOR A NEW DISARMAMENT AGENDA
Why we need disarmament in the 21st Century
The deteriorating international security environment
A new cold war
Increasing complexity of intra-State and regional conflict
A more complex world order
The human and economic cost of militarization
Increasing risks from new weapon technologies
Eroding respect for international norms and institutions
Long-standing commitments are unfulfilled
Why the United Nations pursues disarmament
Maintaining international peace and security
Upholding the principles of humanity
Protecting civilians
Promoting sustainable development
Preventing and ending armed conflict and violence
Demilitarizing security in the 21st Century
Why disarmament is more essential in a deteriorated security environment
The diverse disarmament toolbox
The need to establish a clear and credible vision for sustainable security
Part II DISARMAMENT TO SAVE HUMANITY
Weapons of mass destruction and other strategic weapons
Towards the elimination of nuclear weapons
Resuming dialogue and negotiations for nuclear arms control and disarmament
Extending the norms against nuclear weapons and their proliferation
Preparing for a world free of nuclear weapons
Ensuring respect for norms against chemical and biological weapons
Ensuring accountability and ending impunity
Increasing capacity to uphold the norm against chemical and biological weapons
Preventing the emergence of new domains of strategic competition and conflict
Ensuring the security and sustainability of outer space activities
Reining in new types of destabilizing strategic weapons
Part III DISARMAMENT THAT SAVES LIVES
Conventional weapons
Mitigating the humanitarian impact of conventional arms
Protecting civilians against the urbanization of armed conflict
Strengthening coordination on improvised explosive devices
Increasing accountability, transparency and oversight with regard to armed drones
Addressing the excessive accumulation and illicit trade in conventional arms
Supporting country-level approaches on small arms
Integrating arms into prevention thinking and actions
Managing poorly maintained stockpiles
Rethinking unconstrained military spending
Part IV DISARMAMENT FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
Emerging means and methods of warfare
Understanding the implications posed by developments in science and technology
Encouraging responsible innovation and application of new technologies
Keeping humans in control of weapons and artificial intelligence
Ensuring peace and stability in cyberspace
Part V STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS FOR DISARMAMENT
Retooling multilateral disarmament processes and institutions
Engaging regional organizations
Ensuring the equal, full and effective participation of women
Empowering the young generation—the ultimate force for change
Enhancing participation by civil society and engagement by the private sector
THE WAY FORWARD
List of boxes
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Nuclear-Weapon Prohibition Treaty
Investigating the use of chemical or biological weapons
Casualty recording by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
Addressing the gendered impact of arms
Promoting transparency in military expenditures and arms transfers
The United Nations disarmament organs
Increasing the participation of developing countries in disarmament meetings
Disarmament education
List of figures
Figure 1 The Sustainable Development Goals and disarmament
Figure 2 Global stockpiles of nuclear weapons
Figure 3 The population of objects in outer space
Figure 4 Casualties resulting from the use of explosive weapons (2011-2016)
Figure 5 The value of global arms exports
Figure 6 Global military expenditure
Figure 7 Participation of women in multilateral disarmament meetings at the United Nations
List of tables
Table 1 Reported exports and imports of major conventional weapon systems, 2017
Table 2 Reported exports and imports of small arms and light weapons, 2017
Foreword
e are living in dangerous times. Protracted conflicts are causing
W
unspeakable human suffering. Armed groups are proliferating,
equipped with a vast array of weapons. Global military spending and
competition in arms are increasing, and the tensions of the cold war have
returned to a world that has grown more complex. In today’s multipolar
environment, the mechanisms for contact and dialogue that once helped
to defuse tensions between two super-powers have eroded and lost their
relevance.
This new reality demands that disarmament and non-proliferation are put
at the centre of the work of the United Nations. This is the backdrop for
my agenda for disarmament.
Throughout history, countries have pursued disarmament to build a safer,
more secure world and to protect people from harm. Since the foundation
of the United Nations, disarmament and arms control have played a
critical role in preventing and ending crises and armed conflict.
Heightened tensions and dangers can only be resolved through serious
political dialogue and negotiation—never by more arms. Disarmament
and arms control measures can help ensure national and human security
in the 21st Century, and must be an integral part of our collective security
system.
The existential threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity must
motivate us to accomplish new and decisive action leading to their total
elimination. We owe this to the Hibakusha—the survivors of nuclear war
—and to our planet.
We must also increase efforts to prevent and reverse the over-
accumulation of all other types of arms. We must put people at the centre
of our disarmament efforts, and ensure disarmament that saves lives
today and tomorrow. We owe this to the millions of people killed, injured
and uprooted from their homes, in the Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen,
Afghanistan, South Sudan, Somalia, Mali and elsewhere.
We must also work together to make sure that developments in science
and technology are used for the good of humankind. Our joint efforts to
prevent the weaponization of new technologies will save future
generations. We owe this to our children and grandchildren.
My agenda for disarmament aims to be comprehensive, but not
exhaustive. It proposes solutions, and it raises questions. It is not
intended to replace the responsibilities of Member States, nor is it meant
to impose any specific measures on them. My hope is that this agenda
will reinvigorate dialogue and negotiations on international disarmament,
stimulate new ideas and create new momentum.
My agenda also integrates disarmament into the priorities of the whole
United Nations system, laying the foundations for new partnerships and
greater collaboration between different parts of our organization and
Governments, civil society, the private sector and others. It focuses on
practical measures and indicates where I intend personally to engage
and support Member States in carrying out their responsibilities.
Many Member States, independent experts and members of civil society
have contributed to developing this agenda. I thank them sincerely for
their engagement and support.
There are moments in history when individual and collective courage and
conscience come together to change the course of events. I hope this
disarmament agenda will help set our world on a path towards
sustainable peace and security for all.
António Guterres
United Nations Secretary-General
24 May 2018