NATO’s role in conventional arms control

The 1999 Strategic Concept of the Alliance reiterates the major role of arms control in achieving security objectives, the continued importance of harmonizing defence and arms control policies and objectives and NATO’s commitment to the development of future arms control agreements.

The most significant achievement in this sphere is the landmark 1990 Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), negotiated by NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This Treaty is referred to as a "cornerstone of European security" and imposes for the first time in European history legal and verifiable limits on the force structure of its 30 signatory states which stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains.

NATO also supports the implementation of a variety of confidence and security building measures. These include the Vienna Document, a politically-binding agreement designed to promote mutual trust and transparency about a state’s military activities and the Open Skies Treaty which allows for unarmed aerial observation flights over a nation’s territory.

Although not all member states of the Alliance are a party to the Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines, all members of the Alliance fully support its humanitarian demining goals. Moreover, the Alliance assists Partner countries in the destruction of surplus stocks of mines, arms and munitions through a NATO/Partnership for Peace Trust Fund mechanism.

What does this mean in practice?

Since the CFE Treaty’s entry into force in 1992, the destruction of over 60000 pieces of treaty-limited equipment (tanks, armoured personnel carriers, artillery, attack helicopters and combat aircraft) has been verified and over 3500 onsite inspections have been conducted.

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How did it evolve?

The CFE Treaty was negotiated in a relatively short period of less than two years. However, its roots extend back to the beginning of the Helsinki process – launched in the early 1970’s by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which in 1995 became the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – and also drew on the 16 years of experience negotiating the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR).

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Which NATO bodies have a central role?

There are a number of bodies that provide a forum to discuss and take forward arms control issues. Arms control policy is determined within the deliberations of the High Level Task Force on conventional arms control and implementation of these agreements is the purview of the Verification Coordination Committee. Other fora include the Political Military Steering Committee on Partnership for Peace and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Ad Hoc Working Group on Small Arms and Light Weapons.