Verifying Treaty Compliance

This book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert analyses and views of existing verification systems. It provides guidelines and advice for the improvement of those systems as well as for new challenges in the field.

Report issued just before a Treaty between the U.S. and the Soviet Union on Strategic Arms Reductions was due to come before the Senate early in 1991 for its consent. The Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Comm. asked for a study centering on the technologies and techniques of monitoring the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, still under negotiation. This is the summary of the first of the reports to be produced by that study. Contents: Context for This Report; Overview of the Arms Control Monitoring Process; Assessing Monitoring Needs and Capabilities; Monitoring Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles; Monitoring Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles; and Monitoring Bombers and Air-Launched Cruise Missiles. Illus.

The Markland Group is a Canadian non-governmental organization founded in 1987 by Douglas Scott. It is composed of lawyers, academics and other professionals with a special interest in the compliance aspects of disarmament treaties. The Canadian Council on International Law was founded in 1972 to represent Canadian international law practitioners and academics and to facilitate and promote the study of international legal problems by scholars and professionals. These two organizations joined forces in March 1995 to conduct a workshop on compliance, a topic which they felt had received insufficient attention from the international legal community. Thirty-eight experts from Canada, the United States and Great Britain were assembled for a series of meetings at the University of Toronto under the chairmanship of Walter Dorn and Christine Elwell. Five of the papers presented at the workshop have since been edited, expanded and updated for publication in this volume. The papers analyse compliance measures under various treaties, with particular attention being given to: The Biological Weapons Convention; the Chemical Weapons Convention; the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Safeguards); Trade and Environment Compliance Measures; and International Humanitarian Law Compliance and Enforcement Mechanisms and their potential impact on Arms Control and Disarmament Treaties. The Markland Group and the CCIL believe that the study of treaty compliance methodology is still in its infancy. The development of effective, reliable and acceptable compliance systems is imperative, particularly for treaties dealing with disarmament. It is hoped that this volume will provide an impetus for enhanced study of this crucial issue.

This publication has been issued in implementation of the United Nations Disarmament Information Programme as a handy, convenient and attractive reference tool containing the report of the Secretary-General on verification in all its aspects, including the role of the UN in the field of verification. It also contains additional material related to the publication of the report. The publication continues the Disarmament Study Series and should serve as a valuable addition to the reference section of public and university libraries, permanent missions, research institutes and specialized non-governmental organizations.

This second Volume in the book Series on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law discusses the legal interpretation and implementation of verification and compliance with the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, 1968; the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, 1996; and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), 1957. It specifically examines the question, contested in recent academic writings, whether the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is competent to verify not only the correctness, but also the completeness of national declarations. Topical legal issues of verification and its technical and political limits as well as peaceful settlement of disputes and countermeasures are discussed in-depth. The Series on Nuclear Non-Proliferation in International Law provides scholarly research articles with critical commentaries on relevant treaty law, best practice and legal developments, thus offering an academic analysis and information on practical legal and diplomatic developments both globally and regionally. It sets a basis for a further constructive discourse on the topic at both national and international levels. A Third Volume, to be published in Autumn 2016, will focus on legal issues of safety and security of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Jonathan L. Black-Branch is Professor of International Law, Royal Holloway University of London; a Member of Wolfson College, Oxford; Chairman of the International Law Association (ILA) Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Proliferation and Contemporary International Law. Dieter Fleck is Former Director International Agreements & Policy, Federal Ministry of Defence, Germany; Member of the Advisory Board of the Amsterdam Center for International Law (ACIL); Honorary President, International Society for Military Law and the Law of War; Rapporteur of the ILA Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Prolife ration and Contemporary International Law.