Our Proposal

The Strategic Concept for Removal of Arms and Proliferation (SCRAP) is a campaign that suggests using proven agreements as a basis for general and complete disarmament (GCD). SCRAP proposes a ten-year implementation period for GCD using existing mechanisms as a basis.

The ‘best practice’ lies in the UNSCOM work in Iraq and in the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team. UN inspectors should have access to the permanent members of the Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) as well as to the ‘smaller’ nuclear powers (India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea). These procedures will also be effective in restricting terrorist access to nuclear technology; and they can be adapted to work with biological and chemical weapons.

In practice, the START and Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) agreements of the Reagan-Gorbachev era should be extended to all states, and include missile defence and Star Wars systems. New START includes an important innovation by establishing a total number of missile launchers regardless of whether they are carrying nuclear or conventional weapons. The practice developed in UNMOVIC also provides a template for intrusive and effective WMD verification. The European agreements reducing and regulating tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes should also be globalised and include naval vessels.

Most of the technical work has already been done for all these agreements. Implementation, as outlined in the SCRAP Weapons Framework for a Treaty on General and Complete Disarmament, could therefore be swift.