ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the relevant treaty obligations for stockpile destruction and explains the different forms of stockpile destruction techniques. The first global disarmament treaty to provide for stockpile destruction was the Biological Weapons Convention, in 1971. The 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons prohibits all stockpiling of nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices. Each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to possess or stockpile any nuclear explosive devices. A variety of techniques exist to meet a state’s international legal obligations for stockpile destruction. With respect to the destruction of munitions, the International Mine Action Standards, which are non-legal but generally accepted and practiced standards, define stockpile destruction as ‘the physical destructive procedure towards a continual reduction of the stockpile of explosive ordnance’. For conventional munitions, including anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions, open detonation is the approach most usually adopted by a state wishing to destroy part of, or its entire stockpile.
