People have been hoping for disarmament and trying to control weapons and armed forces for thousands of years. Yet weapons systems have been modernized again and again as spending on arms rises. Annual global military expenditure had grown to more than US $1.7 trillion in 2012.

The term “conventional weapons” refers to weapons that are fitted with conventional explosives, i.e. do not use nuclear, biological or chemical ordnance. Conventional weapons may include “heavy” weapons such as battle tanks, artillery systems,...

The Federal Republic of Germany first renounced nuclear, biological and chemical weapons in the 1950s by signing the Western European Union Treaty (WEU Treaty) banning their production.

Throughout human history, technological advances have given rise again and again to new weapons systems. And, very often, the new developments have led to a discussion on how such weapons can be limited and prohibited, i.e. on arms control and disarmament.

The Geneva Conventions consist in total of four agreements concluded between states in the still valid version of 12 August 1949. They lay down internationally binding rules for the treatment of prisoners of war, wounded soldiers and civilians in time of war.

In principle, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE Treaty) is still in force today. It sets ceilings on the number of heavy weapons systems that may be positioned on “the entire land territory of the States Parties in Europe from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains” (Article II.1.B).

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons is a legally effective international framework agreement concluded by the United Nations. On the one hand, it is based on the norm—long-established in international humanitarian law—of shunning the use of certain types of weapon in wars and armed conflicts.

The Treaty on Open Skies, or “Open Skies Treaty”, is a cooperative arms control agreement that came into force on 1 January 2002. It enables members to conduct, at short notice, unarmed observation flights over the entire territory of other state parties above all to monitor military facilities,...

Quite a few nuclear arms control agreements have been negotiated over the last half-century. Some have been signed by a large number of countries, others by just two. Here are the most important agreements:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957 and has 169 member states (as of December 2017). This scientific and technical institution has its headquarters in Vienna.

Disarmament and arms control agreements often, though not always, contain provisions on how implementation and compliance by the signatory states should be checked.

On 5 April 2009, US President Barack Obama declared in Prague that his presidency would affirm "America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons”.

In the context of a comprehensive series of global geophysical activities known as the “International Geophysical Year” 1957-58—both the United States and the Soviet Union launched satellites into Earth’s orbit for the first time ever.

The Outer Space Treaty (in full: The Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and other Celestial Bodies ) entered into force in 1967.

Gigantic space stations glide through space at the speed of light. Stationed on board are large crews—some humans, some extraterrestrials. Equipped with numerous advanced weapons systems, they battle with other space stations or fight to conquer entire planets.

The international arms trade is only partially governed by international law. The relevant individual agreements include the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons of 1980, which bans weapons that have indiscriminate effects or cause excessive harm.

First efforts to contain and eliminate the nuclear threat began immediately after the atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And these efforts have continued to this day. In principle, bilateral, multilateral and universal agreements can have two objectives:

Chemical weapons were the first weapons of mass destruction. Despite countless victims, their use was never decisive for the outcome of a war. We have repeatedly seen cases in which the attacking side itself suffers the long-term consequences, such as US veterans of the Vietnam War.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Biological Weapons Convention on 16 December 1971. Its full title is “Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) Weapons and Toxin Weapons and their Destruction”.