The status and efficacy of non-treaty regimes

The international community has sought to employ a variety of methodologies to deal with the problems of weapons proliferation. This is particularly so with regard to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction- nuclear, biological and chemical - that have attracted much attention and generated great concern in recent years. During past half-century diplomatic processes have produced a series of legally binding bilateral and multilateral international agreements and today provide the legal framework for current efforts to contain and control proliferation od weapons od mass destruction. In the nuclear field, the newly re-endorsed and indefinitely extended Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty clearly provides the basis for a host of associated control measures and safeguards regimes, undertaken pursuant to international agreements with the IAEA, as well as through supplementary multilateral instruments as the Convention for the Physical protection of Nuclear Material