Arms limitation and disarmament agreements; bilateral agreements.

Since the inception of the United Nations, the combined efforts of Governments, at the multilateral and bilateral levels, have resulted in limited yet significant agreements on various arms limitation and disarmament measures. Multilateral instruments concluded so far are:

* The 1959 Antarctic Treaty, which provides for the demilitarization of Antarctica. It prohibits in the Antarctic region any measures of military nature, such as military manoeuvres, weapon tests, nuclear explosions, building of installations or disposal of radioactive wastes.

* The 1963 Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water (Partial Test-Ban Treaty), considered a partial measure in that it does not ban underground tests.

* The 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty), which bans nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction from Earth's orbit, prohibits the military use of celestial bodies or the placing of nuclear weapons on those bodies and bars the stationing of weapons in outer space,

* The 1967 Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America (Treaty of Tlatelolco), which created the first nuclear-weapon-free zone in a densely populated area. It was also the first arms limitation agreement to provide for verification by an international organization.

* The 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Non-Proliferation Treaty), which aims at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to nonnuclear-weapon countries, and at promoting the process of nuclear disarmament and guaranteeing all countries access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

* The 1971 'Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof (Sea-Bed Treaty), which bans the placement of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and facilities for such weapons on or under the sea-bed outside a 12-mile coastal zone,

* The 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (Biological Weapons Convention), the first international agreement providing for a genuine measure of disarmament-the destruction of existing weapons.

* The 1977 Convention on the Prohihition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD Convention), which prohibits the use of techniques that would have widespread, long-lasting or severe effects in causing such phenomena as earthquakes, tidal waves and changes in weather and climate patterns,

* The 1979 Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Agreement on Celestial Bodies), which prohibits the use of thc Moon and other celestial bodies for military purposes.

* The 1981 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, which restricts or prohibits the use of mines and booby traps, incendiary weapons and fragments not detectable by an X-ray in the human body.