Despite North Korea's recent nuclear test, it has generally been a good year for arms control. For the past decade, the very idea of agreements limiting weapons and their delivery systems has been looked at with disdain. While it is tempting to blame the United States for this sad state of affairs; in fact, most nations have contributed to the delegitimization of arms control. The tide has turned, however, and arms control is once again a source of hope, not frustration and finger-pointing.
Last week, two important developments occurred. The first was a breakthrough at the Conference on Disarmament (CD), a 65-nation forum for arms control negotiations in Geneva. Established in 1979, it helped create the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The CD has not yielded another agreement for over a decade; its members have been deeply divided over priorities. Some seek a treaty banning the production of fissile material such as enriched uranium and plutonium, which would make it harder to build nuclear weapons, while others focus on a treaty barring the militarization of space. Since the CD operates by consensus, the inability to find common ground meant its work ground to a halt.
That deadlock was broken last week when representatives adopted a "program of work" that will guide CD activities. The program will tackle disarmament generally, but will also focus on a fissile material regime. A working group will also be established "to prevent an arms race in outer space," while another group will tackle "negative security assurances," promises by states that have nuclear weapons that they will not use them against countries that do not.