The SCRAP Weapons Framework for a Treaty on General and Complete Disarmament

The Draft Treaty on General and Complete Disarmament presented by the Strategic Concept for the Removal of Arms and Proliferation (SCRAP Weapons) provides a framework for a global agreement banning Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), controlling all other military weapons and providing a system for confidence and security building measures, as well as open source verification mechanisms, to implement the provisions of the Atlantic Charter, the United Nations Charter, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Final Document of the First UN Special Session on Disarmament, and numerous other agreements contemplating the negotiation of a treaty on General and Complete Disarmament for the accomplishment of universal human security.

Key to this draft is that it is based on proven best practices and has been developed and reviewed by experts in the field. Building on and unifying already implemented bilateral and multilateral weapons control agreements, this treaty incorporates the UN Security Council’s provisions of the Iraqi regime of inspection of WMDs, key provisions of biological and chemical weapons conventions, and the operative parts of the bilateral Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) and Strategic Arms Reduction (START) treaties. The treaty also addresses areas outside of WMDs, drawing on the provisions of the OSCE arms control ‘Vienna document’, regional WMD free zones, and provisions contained in other multilateral agreements, such as cluster munitions, landmines, and other small military weapons.

Thus, SCRAP Weapons’ draft treaty provides the basic elements of an international legally-binding agreement on General and Complete Disarmament, encompassing the elimination of strategic, intermediate-range, shorter-range and short range missiles; verification of the elimination of nuclear weapon manufacturing and stockpiles; verification of biological and chemical disarmament,  verification of disarmament of conventional armed forces, holdings and manufacture, and global and regional confidence and security building measures including military exercises and operations, and is open for broad international accession.