Arms Control - Arms Control Organizations

Arms Control Organizations

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

The intergovernmental organizations for arms control are the following:

• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
• Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PrepCom)
• Conference on Disarmament (CD)
• United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA)
• United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
• the now disbanded United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the successor to United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM)
• failed proposal for Organisation for the Prohibition of Biological Weapons

There are also numerous non-governmental organizations that promote a global reduction in nuclear arms and offer research and analysis about U.S. nuclear weapons policy. Pre-eminent among these organizations is the Arms Control Association, founded in 1971 to promote public understanding of and support for arms control. Others include:

• Federation of American Scientists (FAS) -- founded in 1945 as the Federation of Atomic Scientists by veterans of the Manhattan Project.
• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament—a leading disarmament organization in the United Kingdom, founded in 1957.
• Peace Action—formerly SANE (the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy), founded in 1957
• Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) -- founded by Bernard Lown in 1961.
• Council for a Livable World—founded in 1962 by physicist Leó Szilárd and other scientists who believed that nuclear weapons should be controlled and eventually eliminated.
• Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) -- founded in 1969 by faculty and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Arms Control Association—founded in 1971.
• Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation—founded in 1980 as a sister organization to the Council for a Livable World.
• International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) -- founded in 1981.
• Alliance for Nuclear Accountability—a national network of organizations working to address issues of nuclear weapons production and waste cleanup, founded in 1987 as the Military Production Network.
• Global Zero—founded in 2008.