Practical approaches to disarmament research: Making an impact
On March 4, 2016 INCIPE held a Working Breakfast, titled Practical Approaches to Disarmament Research: Making an Impact, to discuss the United Nations’ role in international nuclear disarmament. Jarmo Sareva, Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), attended the event.
In order to achieve its goal of universal nuclear disarmament, the United Nations includes three entities: the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD), the UN Disarmament Commission (UNDC), and the First Committee of the UN General Assembly. Within the United Nations’ disarmament framework exists the autonomous United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR). As one of the few working sectors in the UN’s effort toward global disarmament, UNIDIR’s research revolves around discovering methods and strategies that will work in the contemporary global setting and address current problems in order to make progress toward its disarmament goal.
Central to UNIDIR’s work is its response to the Impact Imperative, which includes four components. First, UNIDIR uses convening power, with the help of the UN flag, in order to expand its presence internationally and reach a wide range of political bodies. Next, framing power is used to present, or frame issues to make them relevant to diverse entities. Third, UNIDIR’s cross-cutting nature allows it to effectively work with complex and interlinked international issues. Finally, UNIDIR prides itself on being practical and effective. By aiming its research at current, rather than theoretical problems, UNIDIR’s conclusions are evidence-based and policy-objective. This way, its research can actually be applied to the current international system and be used make real agreements.
Recent UN advancement in universal disarmament includes the passing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), revised in 2010 to include a 64-Point Action Plan for the elimination of nuclear weapons. Additionally, the latest nuclear agreement with Iran can be seen as a positive step toward nuclear disarmament. Recent progress concerning non-nuclear disarmament includes the 2007 ban on cluster munitions and the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) regulating the international trade of conventional arms.
We are living in a world with extensive multilateralism problems, specifically with respect to nuclear weapons. One response to today’s economic, political, and social uncertainties is the rise of authoritarianism and geopolitics. The current abundance of nuclear weapons more than 25 years after the end of the Cold War is unacceptable; the world contains over 15,000 warheads, 1,800 of which are on high alert and ready for immediate usage. These political and military trends will not improve our situation. Only increased cooperation has the ability to solve current issues in a sustainable manner. This strategy, though, can be quite complicated in practice; one hurdle concerning multilateral agreements for disarmament is that is that in the case that only certain nations participate in them or comply with their requirements, a huge disequilibrium will emerge in the global arrangement between those states with nuclear weapons and those vulnerable unarmed states. A popular solution to this problem is that by all nations having the same amount of nuclear weapons, and this amount being none, we can achieve a more balanced and secure international system. UNIDIR’s research on will be necessary in this journey of discovering how to achieve this ideal society, safer and free of nuclear weapons.
Members of diverse fields attended the Working Breakfast, including military officers and ambassadors from several nations. The event ended with a questionnaire where the attendees shared their views on different topics, especially about the participation, or lack of participation, of specific countries in nuclear disarmament.
Maria Peurach
INCIPE
