International Arms Control Research Guide

There are many treaties associated with arms control; some are more general and apply to a class of weapons (e.g. the Chemical Weapons Convention), while others specifically address more specific type of weapon (e.g. the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty). The links below are divided into those which provide large collections of treaties and those which link to specific treaties. Please see our Treaty Research guide for further assistance.

Treaty Collections

• International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA): Treaties
  Includes links international agreements for which the IAEA is the depositary, to which the IAEA itself is a party, and other IAEA-related treaties.
   
• U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA): Disarmament Treaties Database
  In addition to full-text searching, includes a browsable list of treaties by title that includes the texts of treaties as well as ratification details. Can also browse by country to see the treaties to which they are parties.
   
• U.N. Treaty Collection
  Searchable and browsable by various categories. Includes the U.N. Treaty Series and a page for multilateral treaties deposited with the U.N.
   
• U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance (AVC)
  The AVC describes its mission as “deterring conflict and enhancing strategic stability using tools such as arms control treaties, other international agreements, and transparency and confidence-building measures.” The website’s Key Topics page includes a hyperlinked list of treaties related to arms control.
   
• U.S. Department of State: Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation (ISN)
  The ISN describes its mission as “[p]reventing the spread of WMD, delivery systems, and advanced conventional weapons capabilities—and rolling back such proliferation where it has already taken root.” The website’s Key Topics page includes selected arms control treaties and related materials.

Selected Specific Agreements

• Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty), U.S.–U.S.S.R., May 26, 1972, 23 U.S.T. 3435
  Archived version of the U.S. Department of State website that includes the treaty text, protocols, statements and Five-Year Treaty Reviews. Also available is a press release with the text of the diplomatic notes sent to Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine (as successors of the U.S.S.R.) communicating the U.S.’s withdrawal from the treaty.
   
• Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (not yet in force), U.N. Doc A/50/1027, 35 I.L.M. 1439, S. Treaty Doc. No. 105-28 (not ratified)
   
• Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and their Destruction, April 10,1972, 26 U.S.T. 583, 1015 U.N.T.S. 163
  Also known as the Biological Weapons Convention.
   
• Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, September 18, 1997, 2056 U.N.T.S. 211, 36 I.L.M. 1507
  Also known as the Mine Ban Treaty or Ottawa Treaty.
   
• Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, January 13 1993, 32 I.L.M. 800, S. Treaty Doc. No. 103-21 (1993)
  Also known as the Chemical Weapons Convention.
   
• Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, June 17, 1925, 26 U.S.T. 571, 94 L.N.T.S. 65.
  Also known as the Geneva Protocol.
   
• Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, July 1, 1968, 21 U.S.T. 483, 729 U.N.T.S. 161
   
• Treaty with Russia on Measures for Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, U.S.–Russia, April 8, 2010, S. Treaty Doc. No. 111-5 (2010)
  Also known as the New START Treaty.