ON THE face of it, the world鈥檚 arms control treaties seem to be relics of a less cynical era. Their underlying concept, born of the devastation of two world wars, is that nations can solemnly promise to give up horrific weapons 鈥� and mean it. Surely, the reasoning went, governments would rather spend their citizens鈥� money on bread than bombs, so long as some kind of verification assured them that their neighbours were doing the same.
Today such thinking appears almost naive, and cynicism over arms control is rife. Meetings to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty collapse as the nuclear 鈥渉aves鈥� refuse to let go while the 鈥渉ave-nots鈥� strive to join them. The Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty is in limbo as key nuclear nations refuse to ratify it. The Biological Weapons Convention languishes without the teeth of a verification regime. And the Conference on Disarmament is mired in bickering. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon describes arms control as 鈥渋n a rut鈥�.
There is one treaty that does seem to work. This week the Chemical Weapons Convention celebrates its 10th birthday in a world largely free from such weapons. In part, this success is because the CWC treats everyone the same 鈥� no haves and have-nots 鈥� and it has its own verification agency and inspectors.
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There are snags (see 鈥淐hemical weapons still causing concern鈥�). The Russians and Americans are taking forever to destroy their stockpiles. There are new kinds of factories and chemicals that the verification regime was not designed to handle. The CWC also works through national governments at a time when those using poison gas are not governments, as recent chlorine attacks in Iraq have shown. Indeed one advantage the CWC has over the other treaties is that not many governments want chemical weapons.
That said, the CWC proves the model can work. People who oppose arms treaties say they do so because the world has good guys and bad guys, and that different rules should apply to each side. They argue that we, the good guys (whoever 鈥渨e鈥� happens to be), should arm ourselves as we see fit, and deny weapons to the bad guys. Those people have to explain away the CWC鈥檚 success. That or they need to admit that their problem is not political philosophy, but a secret hankering to use the new sedatives and crowd-control chemicals now on military drawing boards.
Many happy returns to the CWC. We hope it grows stronger in the next 10 years and that the other treaties one day match its success. It鈥檚 just a shame we feel so pessimistic.
