G. Disarmament and Arms Control

The essential factors in the maintenance of peace are the upholding of a strategic balance, progress towards strategic, tactical and conventional disarmament, arms control by treaty with verification procedures, and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Austrian policy in this field starts from the premise of the protection and safety of the individual.

On 13 December 2001 the United States unilaterally revoked the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that was signed with the Soviet Union in 1972. There were no dramatic reactions to this move, which was made in connection with the current development of a US antimissile defence system. The interests of Russia and the international community are now centred on the creation of a new framework for a strategic balance.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which remains the cornerstone of the efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, now has 187 signatories. In 1995 it was extended without limit of time. The first meeting of the preparatory committee for the fourth Review Conference in 2005 takes place in April 2002.

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) bans all atomic tests that involve nuclear chain reactions as well as all other nuclear explosions. The treaty will enter into force when 44 states listed in Annex II to the Treaty, including Austria, have ratified. By the end of 2001 a total of 165 states had signed the treaty and 89 had ratified, including 31 of the listed 44. Austria ratified the treaty in March 1988. The second Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force (Art. XIV), held in New York in November 2001, adopted a catalogue of measures to accelerate the Treaty's entry into force. The effect was, however, reduced by the absence of the United States currently adopting currently a negative approach towards the treaty.

The Provisional Technical Secretariat of the Preparatory Commission for the CTBT Organisation (CTBT PrepCom) has been operating in Vienna since March 1997 and has now a staff of 260. Its main function is to develop the verification system foreseen by the treaty to a global network of 321 monitoring stations, 16 radionuclide laboratories and an international data centre in Vienna. Austria has pressed for the swiftest possible completion of the verification system. The only component, other than the data centre, to be located in Austria is the radionuclide laboratory at Seibersdorf, which will test suspicious samples. The radionuclide laboratory, the first of the 16 worldwide, was erected in record time and was formally opened in December 2001.

As in previous years, the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva was again unable to agree on a programme of work. This resulted in a further postponement of the start of negotiations on the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, which would ban the production of fissile materials for the production of nuclear and other explosive weapons. The most that could be achieved in June 2001 was agreement on the appointment of special coordinators on procedural matters.

By the end of 2001 the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction had been signed by 174 states and ratified by 145. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that was set up to monitor its observance is located in The Hague. The sixth conference of signatory states in May heard that, since 1997, more than 1,000 inspections had been carried out in 49 member states. More than 6,000 tons of chemical weapons and 1.8 million pieces of illegal ammunition had been destroyed. Due to delays in the programmes the destruction of US chemical weapons will probably not be completed until 2011 and the Russian ones till 2012. Since 1999 the EU has provided financial and technical assistance for the Russian programme.

The OPCW unanimously condemned the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September and called upon all member states to adhere without reservations to the convention and the commitments it involves. Austria, a member of the OPCW Executive Council till May 2002, signed a bilateral agreement on privileges with the organisation. In cooperation with the relevant Austrian government authority, the OPCW held a workshop on the coordination of assistance in Vienna in October. Its budget is €62m for 2002, of which Austria will contribute €554,756 (0.954%).

The 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction has no control mechanism. Efforts were therefore going on since 1995 to strengthen it with a means of verification. Negotiations within the special ad hoc group stopped in August 2001 with no result because the draft text of a treaty submitted by the group's chairman was not accepted by all of the States Par ties. This setback led to the suspension of the fifth review conference in November and December, with a resumption planned for November 2002.