VERTIC Programmes: Countries of Concern

Arms control & disarmament projects

Implementation of verification in countries of concern:
Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea
Researcher: Andreas Persbo
Funder:

VERTIC follows closely monitoring and verification developments relating to countries of concern, including Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea. Trust & Verify provides regular analysis and news of verification developments in these countries. Other highlights of the project are as follows.

Iraqi weapons inspections database
Following the resumption of weapons inspections in Iraq in November 2002, VERTIC closely monitored the progress of United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors in Iraq. VERTIC interns Alex Wood and Ben Mines compiled a searchable database that details each of the inspections conducted by the inspectors between 27 November 2002 and 17 March 2003, when the inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq. The database is intended to be both a historical record of the inspections' regime and to allow for quantitative and qualitative analyses of the inspections.

The database provides details for 861 inspections at 429 sites. These include the name and nature of the sites and their proprietors, location, purpose of the inspection, dates, type of team visiting the site (biological, chemical, missile or IAEA nuclear teams) and the number of inspectors; whether the site had previously been declared or was new; and additional comments, with links to further information where available.

UNMOVIC in Iraq: opportunity lost
by Trevor Findlay and Ben Mines, Verification Yearbook 2003

This chapter offers VERTIC's own analysis of the data in the Iraqi weapons inspection database. Noting that the pattern of inspections shows two distinct phases, Findlay and Mines look at the extent of Iraqi cooperation and the chief difficulties the weapons inspectors encountered. The most important results of the inspections—both what was found and what was not—are discussed.

North Korea: the challenge of verifying a moving target
by Kenneth Boutin, Verification Yearbook 2003

This chapter examines the obstacles to verifying North Korean compliance with its obligations under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and any subsidiary accord negotiated to roll back its nuclear weapons programme.

Iraq

Verification Yearbook
2004
Verifying Libya’s nuclear disarmament
by Jack Boureston and Yana Feldman
Iran and nuclear safeguards: establishing the facts and seeking compliance
by Wyn Q. Bowen
Intelligence, verification and Iraq’s WMD
by Brian Jones
2003
UNMOVIC in Iraq: opportunity lost
by Trevor Findlay and Ben Mines
2000
Verification under duress: the case of UNSCOM
by Stephen Black

Trust and Verify
Iraq Survey Group takes up baton in hunt for WMD. no. 109, July-August 2003
by Ben Mines
Iraq's weapons: the US fails to best UNMOVIC. no. 108, May-June 2003
by Trevor Findlay and Ben Mine
UNMOVIC: progress, but to what end? no. 107, March-April 2003
by Ben Mines
UNMOVIC: quality time in Iraq. no. 106, January-February 2003
by Alex Wood
UNMOVIC’s balancing act. no. 105, November-December 2002
by Trevor Findlay

North Korea

Verification Yearbook
2003
North Korea: the challenge of verifying a moving target
by Kenneth Boutin
2002
Verifying a missile accord with North Korea
by Leon Sigal

Trust and Verify
North Korean crisis: fallout for verification, no. 106, January-February 2003
by Kenneth Boutin

The above publications are available in portable document format (PDF) and require the installation of Adobe Reader 4.0 or higher. To download a free copy of the software visit the Adobe website.