The United Nations as a forum for arms control

This chapter looks at the Security Council (SC) and the General Assembly (GA) as the primary organs with specific responsibilities relating to the regulation of armaments and disarmament. The two UN Charter exceptions to the ban on the use of force thereby set the limits to disarmament given the necessity of a minimum level of armaments. The onset of the Cold war and the veto power of the P5 led to a diminished role of the SC in arms control. The SC adopted a small number of binding resolutions especially regarding the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the law-making resolution 1540 being a case in point. The GA attained a more prominent role than foreseen as the UN's arms control forum par excellence for discussion, by organizing three special general sessions devoted to Disarmament and Arms Control, by providing a forum for negotiating single issue treaties, or by providing a forum for the international confirmation and adoption of negotiated arms control instruments via signatory sessions of drafted treaties. It shows the UN, in particular the GA, as a facilitator of arms control.