Meeting proliferation threats with capacity building assistance
In 2014, the international community will mark the tenth anniversary of the adoption of resolution 1540 by the UN Security Council. The mandate of that resolution reflected growing concern over the widening WMD-proliferation supply chain, which, as a result of globalization, today extends to more countries in more corners of the globe than ever before.
In the wake of the exposure of the A. Q. Khan illicit proliferation network, few governments doubted the need to more aggressively pursue measures aimed at forestalling non-state actors’ acquisition of sensitive WMD-related technologies and know-how. Yet by 2006, following a full two years of outreach by the UNSCR 1540 Committee, there was little evidence of widespread implementation, particularly across the developing world. These ostensibly delinquent governments of the Global South recognized the importance of proliferation prevention. Still, for most of them, the reality of WMD terrorism, while horrific, was ultimately not as immediate a threat as other soft-security and development challenges.
To read the full essay, click here.