International Law on Weapons of Mass Destruction

International Law on Weapons of Mass Destruction

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Abstract

Weapons of mass destruction continue to pose a big threat to world peace . This is despite various treaties put in place to counter this problem . While the treaties have achieves some degree of disarmament and most nations remaining free of WMDs , they have failed in stooping proliferation testing and development of new weapons . This has been due to failure by various signatory nations to comply with the rule law and due to inequalities of

the laws . Political commitment to equitable laws would remove the threat

Introduction

North Korea claims to be matching on with its nuclear program since its withdrawal as on signatory of non-proliferation treaty in 2003 . It also boasts of having successfully tested its nuclear program causing a lot of concern from the US and its neighbors South Korea and Japan . India has twice tested its nuclear technology . In 1974 as it engaged the break away state of Pakistan in an arms race and it also had bad relations with china . It developed nuclear warfare under guise of industrial use at only to carry out weapon tests later . Its first test came unexpectedly for many nations . In the late Nineties , India engaged in another arms race with Pakistan as their fight over Kashmir worsened Pakistan on its part developed nuclear power in response to the first tests by India . It was backed by backed by the West since India was seen to have socialist leanings . It was able to come up with poorly developed nuclear weaponry in the eighties with the help of china . Its nuclear program matured in the 1990s culminating in to a successful test in response to second Indian test in 1998 . Israel has also developed nuclear power and is highly suspected of stockpiling nuclear weapons This has unsettled its Arabs neighbors in the volatile Middle East region . Iran , Libya and Syria are some of the Arab nations linked to nuclear developments . Iran has come out to defend itself arguing that it nuclear program is for peaceful uses rather weapon production . The West is deeply concerned and is proposing strict sanctions be put in place against Iran 's fundamentalist government . The US is also contemplating taking military action similar to invasion of Iraq . In 2001 , the US experienced an Anthrax attacks alongside the 9 /11 attacks

While this analysis focuses mostly on nuclear weapons , it goes on to show that weapons of mass destruction are still a major threat to world peace . It also shows that the nuclear technology has permeated to several countries outside the nuclear club (Nuclear Weapon States . The NWS was formed after signing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty to contain nuclear developments within that group only . This was to alleviate a situation where the weapons were in the hands of uncontrollable government or group . Members of the NSW themselves have continued to expand weapons programs . Proliferation of WMDS continues to pose problems in the world today . This shows the...