Six Decades of Multilateral Disarmament Negotiations

In this essay Marín Bosch makes an in-depth analysis of the history of multilateral disarmament forums and their present status, the achievements that have been made in this field over the last six decades and what remains to be done. He concentrates on the disarmament agreements negotiated from 1946 to date, dividing them into: years of optimism at the United Nations; the cold war and the security structures that appeared on the sidelines of the UN; the advent of more effective disarmament forums; a temporary standstill in multilateral disarmament efforts; years of encouraging results, and the crisis experienced by multilateralism. The author provides a detailed overview of the creation and background of the three multilateral forums at which disarmament issues are currently discussed: the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, the UN Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament. He then goes on to mention other promising events in the area of disarmament, such as the START treaties signed by the United States and the Russian Federation. A complete paragraph is devoted to the makeup of the Conference on Disarmament and how it has transformed over the years. The author queries whether or not the countries that possess nuclear arms are truly committed to disarmament, a question that leads him to examine the origin of certain treaties. His conclusion is that nuclear disarmament is only likely to occur when the US government so decides. According to Marín Bosch, it is the responsibility of Washington and Moscow to point us in the direction of a world free of nuclear weapons.