Arms Control and Disarmament Today

8th December 2009

The UN-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) and the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations (GSD) held their second joint course on the topic of “Arms Control and Disarmament Today,” on the campus of the Geneva School of Diplomacy.

The course convened from Dec. 1 to 5, 2009 to reflect the general return of arms control and disarmament onto the world agenda after years of neglect.

Work is underway to renegotiate the US-Russian START treaty to continue reducing nuclear arms. The multilateral Conference on Disarmament in Geneva is finally about to begin negotiations on a major treaty to end the production of fissile material that is used in nuclear weapons. A number of other negotiations are underway in various other disarmament areas such as conventional weapons and nuclear non-proliferation.

In order to better understand these important events, the week-long survey course provided its participants with a general overview of the specific issues relevant to the arms control and disarmament field as it exists today. The course covered the complex interaction between the technical, political and diplomatic factors affecting each subject as well as the overarching influence of international security requirements on each nation’s approach to dealing with arms control and disarmament. In attendance were NGOs, diplomats, academic experts and graduate students with relevant experience in the field who used the conference to update their professional knowledge. Academic experts and practitioners from various institutions in the Geneva area made presentations on each issue using a seminar/discussion format.

Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations Château de Penthes 18, ch de L'Impératrice 1292, Pregny/Geneva, Switzerland t. +41 22 300 33 77 f. +41 22 300 33 11 e. info@genevadiplomacy.ch
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