Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 57, May 2001

Editor's Introduction

May's edition provides a varied focus on the complex and controversial issue of preventing missile proliferation. The 'Draft International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation,' approved at the 15th plenary meeting of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in October 2000, is published here for the first time, following nine months of consultations with non-member governments. Two analysis papers, from Russian arms control expert Viacheslav Abrosimov, and UK researcher Mark Smith of the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, weigh the prospects and dilemmas involved in tackling missile threats. In the wake of the British Labour Party's re-election, Lorna Richardson, the Acronym Institute's parliamentary analyst, reports on parliamentary debates and concerns raised about the Blair government's stance toward Washington's missile defence plans. Documents and Sources and News Review also provide extensive material relating to ongoing, intense deliberations on missile defence around the world.

The edition also features three updates, each reflecting on troubling signs for the multilateral disarmament process. Alexander Kelle, Guest Researcher at the Frankfurt Peace Research Institute, reports on the Sixth Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), noting signs of serious organisational and political strain. Acronym Institute Analyst Jenni Rissanen reports on the negative impact of the Bush administration's reported retreat from current efforts to provide a verification Protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). Rissanen also reports from the Conference on Disarmament (CD) as delegates seek to salvage another year of negotiating inactivity and political frustration.

In addition to comprehensive coverage of missile defence issues, Documents and Sources includes material on US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's national security space management initiative, testimony on the US nuclear weapons complex, and a statement by India's recently-formed Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) on the anniversary of the May 1998 nuclear tests. Developments in South Asia also feature in News Review, along with non-proliferation discussions between North Korea and the European Union, ratification of the Open Skies Treaty by the Russian Duma, and a US-UK bid to break the stalemate in UN-Iraq relations.