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and verifi cation of destruction activities. The USA had spent $23.7 billion on
destroying its chemical weapons stocks by the end of November 2011, though it had
still not destroyed the total stockpile (Hart 2012 ). The high costs of disarmament,
including the associated verifi cation programmes, and the resulting diversion of
resources from social and environmental programmes, are a further argument
against militarisation and in particular the development of new weapons systems.
The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions impose a total ban on cluster muni-
tions. By the start of 2013, 111 states had signed it and 77 ratifi ed it (Grip and Patton
2013 ), with these numbers increasing to 112 and 83 by 2014 (Anon 2014d ).
However, there is still opposition to a total ban from a number of powerful states,
including China, Russia and the USA (Grip 2012 ), The Convention entered into
force and became binding on states which had ratifi ed it in August 2010. Eight of
the parties have completely destroyed their cluster munitions stockpiles. However,
credible reports of the use of cluster munitions by two states which have not signed
the Convention, Sudan in 2012 (Grip and Patton 2013 ) and Syria from 2012 onwards
(Human Rights Watch 2014 ), clearly demonstrate the need for it.
The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production
And Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction totally bans
anti-personnel mines and requires the destruction of existing stocks, but allows
some stocks to be retained for use in mine detection, clearance or destruction
techniques. One hundred and sixty one states have ratifi ed or acceded to the
Convention and one has signed, but not ratifi ed. More than 46 million stockpiled
mines have been destroyed since the Convention's entry into force in 1999. Eighty
seven countries have completed the destruction of their mine stockpiles, other than
those retained for use in training, and another 64 have declared that they did not
possess any stockpiles. Seventy two countries are retaining mines for use in training
(Anon 2014i ).
The 1981 Convention on Prohibition or Restriction of Certain Conventional
Weapons, with 114 parties to the original convention and protocol, is an umbrella
treaty with a number of different protocols introduced at different times. It prohibits
or restricts the use of a number of different types of conventional weapons (Bodell
2012 ). The Conventions on the Prohibition of the Development, Production,
Stockpiling and Use of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons, and
Chemical Weapons, and on their Destruction entered into force in 1975 and 1997
respectively. They have 166 and 188 parties respectively (Bodell 2012 ).
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, with 190 parties
entered into force in 1970. It divides states into nuclear weapons states, which
manufactured or exploded a nuclear weapon or nuclear explosive device before
1 January 1967, and non-nuclear weapons states. The nuclear weapons states are
forbidden to spread nuclear weapons technologies to non-nuclear weapons states
and agree to cease the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarma-
ment. The non-nuclear weapons states agree to prevent the diversion of nuclear
materials from 'peaceful' uses to weapons (Bodell 2012 ).
Subsequent agreements on nuclear weapons have largely involved the USA and
Russia, formerly the Soviet Union. The most recent of these is the Treaty on
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