DATE a / TITLE / SCOPE
1954/
1956 / Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict / US becomes 121st party in 2008
1957 / International Atomic Energy
Agency / Inter-governmental organization to promote
peaceful uses of nuclear energy
1959/
1961 / Antarctic Treaty / Prohibits establishment of military bases, maneuvers, and testing
1963/
1963 / Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water / Signed by the Original Parties: USSR, the UK, and the US
1967 / Outer Space Treaty / Prohibits orbit of weapons of mass destruction and military presence in space or on a celestial body
1967/
1968 / Treaty of Tlatelolco (Latin
America) / Regional nuclear-free zone prohibiting acquisition, manufacture, or any use of
nuclear weapons
1968/
1970 b
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1992 / Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
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Model Additional (Lisbon)
Protocol / Nuclear States may not transfer and others may not receive, manufacture, or develop nuclear weapons; effect limited because it lacks ratification by key parties
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Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine commit to return their nuclear weapons to Russia (done by 1996)
1971/
1972 / Seabed Treaty / Prohibits nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction on the seabed and ocean floor and in subsoil
1972/
1975 / Biological Weapons Convention / Prohibits the production and stockpiling of bacteriological and toxic weapons. Seeks
destruction or diversion of weapons to peaceful purposes / national sovereignty
withdrawal clause has rendered it ineffective c
1972 / Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (USRussia) / Forbids deployment of a missile defense system / North Korea withdrew in 2003 / US
withdrew in 2001/ Russian President threatens withdrawal in 2007 d
1977/
1978 / Enmod Convention / Prohibits military or other hostile use of environmental modification in, over, and
above the Earth
1977/
1985 / Mercenarism Convention (Africa) / Organization of African Unity prohibition on placing or training mercenaries in Africa.
Created crime of mercenarism whereby guilty person denied POW status
1979 / SALT II Treaty (US-Russia) / First ceiling on strategic nuclear weapons
1980/
1983
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2003/
2006 / Inhumane Weapons Convention
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Protocol V on Explosive
Remnants of War / Prohibits or restricts certain conventional weapons deemed too injurious: mines, booby
traps, incendiary devices
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Parties to armed conflict must clear all unexploded munitions
1985/
1986 / Treaty of Rarotonga (South
Pacific) / Declares nuclear-free zone / Prohibits acquisition, testing of nuclear weapons, waste
dumping
1986 / Confidence and Security Building / Facilitates abstention from threat or use of force, including advance Measures and Disarmaments (CSCE; notification of certain
military activities such as major troop and now OSCE) (Europe) battle tank movements
1991 / START I treaty (US-Russia) / Slashed nuclear arsenals by one-third (expired in December 2009)
1991 / Missile Technology Control
Regime / UN Security Council permanent members
sponsored arms-export limitations and shared
information regarding sales of all military weapons and control of missiles capable of
delivering biological, chemical, nuclear weapons
1992/
1997 f / Chemical Weapons Convention / UN General Assembly Resolution 47/39 prohibiting use, development, and stockpiling of chemical weapons / Seeks destruction ten years after entry into force / 2007: Russia & US agree to extend deadline five more years f
1992 / Nuclear Power in Outer Space / UN General Assembly Resolution 47/68 would control use of nuclear power in outer space
1992 / Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe Treaty / Former Warsaw Pact nations to destroy 50,000 major weapons / NATO nations to
destroy few weapons / All to reduce ground and air weapons / Ceilings on certain combat equipment / Russia suspends participation in
2007 e
1992 / General and Complete
Disarmament / UN General Assembly Resolution 46/36: 12
resolutions calling for complete disarmament, rather than mere controls / Annex establishes UN Register of Conventional Arms to track
importing or exporting of specified types of military systems
1993/
2000 / START II Treaty (US, Russia, and three other former USSR
republics) / Cut nuclear stockpiles by another one-third
1996 / UN Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty / Designed as universal and verifiable nuclear test ban, including duty not to explode
nuclear weapons within their jurisdiction or control
1997/
1999 / Ottawa Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use,
Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction / Prohibits use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines and requires their being found and destroyed within 10 years / not signed by Russia, China, or the US
1999 / Protocol II to 1980 Inhumane
Weapons Convention (mines,
booby-traps, and related devices) / Ratified by US
2001 / China-Russia Amity Pact / Agrees in principle to respond to US missile shield (later established in Poland and the
Czech Republic) against ballistic missiles / US claims necessary to reign in Iran’s nuclear ambitions
2002 / US-Russia Nuclear Missile
Reduction Treaty / Cuts respective nuclear arsenals–from about 6,000 each, to about 2,000—or two-thirds, by 2012
2003 / UN Convention on Conventional Weapons / Clearing unexploded weapons / designing to explode on impact
2005/
2007 g / International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism / Measures each State is to adopt, including criminalizing relevant conduct under national law / Does not address legality of use/threat
of nuclear weapons
2007 / Action Plan on North Korean
Nuclear Disarmament / China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the US, and North Korea agreed to specific initial
actions and timetables to terminate North Korea’s plutonium-based nuclear weapons program
2008 h / Convention on Cluster Munitions / Seeks ban on use, development, acquisition,
stockpiling, retention, and transfer of cluster munitions
2009 / US-Russia Statement on Nuclear Arms / Presidents Medvedev and Obama agreed to work together to fulfill the respective obligations under the above Treaty on NPT i
2010 / US and Russia sign “New” START treaty / Pursuit of dramatic cuts in their nuclear weapons stockpiles j
a Second date = year of entry into force, by minimum number of ratifications or by other special agreement.
b See F. Kirgis, Iran and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, ASIL INSIGHTS (May 30, 2006), at
<http://www.asil.org/insights060530.cfm#author> & L. Tabassi & J. Leahey, The Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: Taking Stock after the May 2008 Preparatory Committee Meeting, ASIL
INSIGHTS (June 30, 2008), at < http://www.asil.org/insights080630.cfm >.
c D. Fidler, Outcome of the Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention,ASIL INSIGHTS
(Feb. 23, 2007), at <http://www.asil.org/insights070223.cfm >.
d Per Art. XV, ¶2: “Each party shall, in exercising its national sovereignty, have the right to withdraw … if it
decides that extraordinary events related to the subject matter of this Treaty have jeopardized its supreme
interests.”
e D. Hollis, Russia Suspends CFE Treaty Participation, ASIL INSIGHTS (July 23, 2007), at
<http://www.asil.org/insights070723.cfm>.
f D. Fidler, The Chemical Weapons Convention After Ten Years: Successes and Future Challenges, ASIL
INSIGHTS (April 27, 2007), at http://www.asil.org/insights070427.cfm#author.
g D. Fidler, International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism Enters into Force, ASIL
INSIGHTS (July 5, 2007), at <http://www.asil.org/insights070705.cfm#author>.
h P. Pillai, Adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, ASIL INSIGHT (October 1, 2008), at
http://www.asil.org/insights081001.cfm>. A November 2008 Human Rights Watch Group report claimed that
both Georgia and Russia used cluster munitions in their August 2008 conflict over Georgia’s “independent”
provinces.
i Joint Statement Regarding Negotiations on Further Reductions in Strategic Offensive Arms, at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Joint-Statement-by-Dmitriy-A-Medvedev-and-Barack-Obama>.
j Russia deploys a disclosed 2,600 strategic warheads; the US 2,100; China 180; India and Pakistan 70--80 each; and North Korea just a few.