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This publication describes the achievements and shortfalls of the first twenty years of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction, which entered into force on 1 March 1999. Published with the aim of bringing together diverse perspectives on this key instrument of humanitarian disarmament, the paper was written by pioneers and luminaries of the movement that helped achieve the Convention and that committed themselves towards realizing the Convention’s full implementation. Each chapter contains discussions of an element of the …

This publication provides a historical survey of efforts within the United Nations to reduce military spending. Starting with the Charter, which envisages the maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion of resources to arms, reducing military spending was actively pursued throughout the cold war period as a distinct objective within broader negotiations on general and complete disarmament. Separate and distinct efforts to pursue reductions in the military expenditures of the major Powers gave rise to a parallel effort to develop means for sharing information and comparing military spending between States. The resulting mechanism, the United Nations Report on Military Expenditures, continues to function as a means for promoting transparency on military matters. The reduction of military spending was also examined over a period of decades as a means of obtaining resources needed to meet the development objectives of the Organization. The 2030 Agenda for …