OpenLegislation

Division I Project objectives

United Kingdom

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

The proposed project will have four overarching objectives:

  1. (1)

    to fill an important research gap related to how the issue of the ME WMDFZ evolved from 1995-2015, including lessons for current and future prospects;

  2. (2)

    to build analytic capacity to support new thinking on regional security issues and the zone, including drawing on lessons from the establishment of other regional nuclear free zones;

  3. (3)

    to collate ideas and develop new proposals on how to move forward on that issue; and

  4. (4)

    to foster inclusive dialogue among experts and policymakers on regional security issues, inter alia, by means of the ME WMDFZ, which in turn could contribute to ongoing multilateral processes, including the NPT as well as the UN annual conference's efforts on the establishment of a ME WMDFZ.

With regard to the first objective, the complexity of the question of a ME WMDFZ, lack of progress to date, and limited political will within and outside the region have resulted in diminished policy and research attention on the issue in recent years. An extensive body of research exists on the origins of the initiative and efforts to advance it in the lead-up to and conduct of the 1995 Review Conference. The indefinite extension of the NPT that year and the resolution on the Middle East that enabled consensus on extension has been comprehensively addressed, including through an ongoing oral history programme of the 1995 NPT Conference.

There is significantly less documentation and research, however, on the period between 2010-2015. That period, however, saw a number of important diplomatic initiatives on the zone. While some scholars and experts have focused on exploring particular elements of the issue and some advocates have sought to elaborate model texts for a possible agreement, there is no authoritative empirical account of efforts to advance the ME WMDFZ concept during the period from 1996 to 2015. In the absence of such documentation, there is a risk that important details and facts, as well as perspectives of the actors involved and lessons for future efforts, will be lost. This will impede future research or policy efforts on the matter. The proposed UNIDIR project will fill this gap.

As regards the second objective, this project will support continued research and expert attention on WMD threats in the Middle East, regional security cooperation, and specifically a WMDFZ. It will do so at a time when new and sustained thinking and ideas on these issues are desperately needed. By exploring consistent, emerging, or forgotten themes and ideas related to the WMDFZ over two decades, the project will contribute to knowledge and understanding of this issue. By drawing on more recent literature on other nuclear or WMD-free zones, it can assess commonalities and/or singularities in the context of the Middle East region. The result will be a comprehensive repository of themes and ideas to contribute to renewed action and an expanded network of analysts and experts with access to this body of work.

As regards the third objective, this project will contribute to future consideration of the ME WMDFZ in the wider regional WMD and security context by documenting the issues and approaches that were addressed in the context of various initiatives during a two-decade period. Through the inclusive engagement of experts within the region, the project will identify those issues and ideas that researchers, participants and expert observers consider as having potential for further exploration and, equally, those issues that have proved most difficult to tackle. Such an exercise can provide policymakers with a comprehensive basis for considering and assessing the prospects for progress on regional security cooperation on WMD threats in the current dynamic strategic environment. It can also support the development of capacity for future negotiations on regional security issues, including the ME WMDFZ.

Finally, and most important, with regard to the fourth objective, this project will facilitate inclusive informal expert dialogue on specific ideas and initiatives to enhance regional security and the management of WMD threats in the Middle East among countries in the region and their external partners. By doing so, this project will advance the substantive foundations for future semi-official and official dialogue on aspects of WMD and their delivery systems. Specifically, it will offer a discreet framework to examine a broad range of the relevant issues, explore and develop fresh perspectives that may offer avenues for future progress, and support and contribute to a conducive environment for potential future dialogue. In so doing, it also will provide important substantive input and ideas to the UN Conference on the ME WMDFZ as well as contribute to building trust and confidence among a wide range of experts that may be involved in that as well as other appropriate forums.