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Conceived as a comprehensive introduction to a field central to the work of the United Nations, Disarmament: A Basic Guide aims to provide a useful overview of the nuanced challenges of building a more peaceful world in the twenty-first century. It was written with the general reader in mind and it strives to be accessible without downplaying the complexity of the issues it explores. This fourth edition includes updated figures, tables and treaty statuses; new analysis of the key developments since 2012; discussion of two recently agreed legal instruments, the Arms Trade Treaty and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; and a new chapter on emerging threats from cyber-weaponry, unmanned combat aerial vehicles and lethal autonomous weapons …

Treaties are essential to the maintenance of international law and order, and States depend on them to provide stability and consistency in international relations. This publication contains the text of multilateral treaties that focus on nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms, and nuclear-weapon-free zones, all of which are essential for promoting peace and security. It also includes treaties in which disarmament and non-proliferation are important elements within a larger framework of issues, such as the Antarctic Treaty or the Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs hopes this book will be a useful tool for diplomats, researchers, those in the service of States parties to the various treaties and conventions, those States not yet parties, and in promoting and furthering the universalization of these …

This paper aims to develop a coherent United Nations approach to support the international community's efforts to improve the regulation of international transfers of conventional arms. It records the United Nations Organization's advocacy over the past years of a robust and comprehensive Arms Trade Treaty that covers the full array of conventional weapons as well as ammunition and that includes provisions that arms not be transferred where there is a clear risk that they will be used to commit violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law or seriously undermine …