Peace and Security

DISARMAMENT

Whereas in the 19th century the size both of armies and armament were limited, in the 20th century wars have taken the form of struggles encompassing entire societies. As weapons with even more indiscriminate destructive power came into use e.g. long range artillery, bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles, chemical, bacteriological and nuclear weapons, battlefields expanded until they engulfed the entire globe.

As a consequence of this indiscriminate development the death toll increased vertically. In addition the cost of modern armament became prohibitive to many countries. According to estimates more than US$750 billion are spent for armaments annually, thus depriving much needed resources for development.

For the afore-mentioned reasons disarmament became a necessity. Of course, this notion was debated during the League of Nations era, though inconclusively. However, after the Second World War it became obvious that this “course aux armement” could not continue.

Discussion started in earnest as soon as the U.N. was created and some measures were taken almost with the inception of the Organization.

Nevertheless, in the mid-1960s it became apparent that general and complete disarmament was not an attainable goal in the short run. It was, therefore, understood that general disarmament had to be the ultimate goal, whereas the international society had to concentrate increasingly on partial and thematic objectives.

Greece is a party to all International Organizations and Treaties pertaining to disarmament. We believe that these Treaties should be universalized and enter into force whenever this is still pending. Last but not least, their effective implementation should be achieved through a verifiable manner.

The main deliberative bodies in the field of disarmament within the framework of the UN are the General Assembly, its First Committee, the Disarmament Commission and the Conference on Disarmament.