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About UNIDIR

The United Nations Institute for Disarmament is a voluntarily funded, autonomous institute within the United Nations. One of the few policy institutes worldwide focusing on disarmament, UNIDIR generates knowledge and promotes dialogue and action on disarmament and security. Based in Geneva, UNIDIR assists the international community to develop the practical, innovative ideas needed to find solutions to critical security problems.

About the Middle East WMD-Free Zone Compass: Mapping Official Statements

The Compass is an online tool for mapping and tracking publicly available statements made by states of the region and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) Nuclear Weapons States on the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone (ME WMDFZ). 

The tool covers statements made by the 24 members of the future Zone, namely the 22 member states of the Arab League, Iran, and Israel, as well as the League of Arab States (LAS), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and the five Nuclear Weapons States, namely China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

The tool outlines issues, proposals, and concerns publicly expressed in the relevant multilateral fora by regional states and the Nuclear Weapons States regarding the Zone, mostly since the inception of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction in 2019. 

The Compass can be used by negotiators, officials, decision-makers, international organizations, researchers, and other relevant stakeholders interested in the Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Free Zone. By identifying and outlining statements made by regional and other relevant states over time and in comparison to each other, the tool can be used to understand the evolution of states’ reflections of particular issues, gaps in covering particular topics as well as areas of convergence and divergence, enhancing the understanding of opportunities and challenges towards achieving the Zone. Ultimately, this will contribute to the ongoing efforts to develop practical solutions to tackling obstacles and bridging gaps between diverging views.

The Compass is developed by UNIDIR’s Middle East WMD-Free Zone project with funding by the European Union.

Methodology

The Compass identifies and outlines the various publicly expressed statements made by regional states and the Nuclear Weapons States, mostly since the inception of the Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction in 2019. In limited cases, and due to data availability, the mapping includes statements made before 2019.

Statements included in the Compass directly cite publicly available information expressed in statements, interventions, working papers, and proposals submitted or delivered during the Zone Conference (e.g., opening session, the general debate, the thematic debate, or other segments of the Conference and throughout the proceeding sessions), or other relevant forums such as the NPT Review Conference, the IAEA General Conference, the United Nations General Assembly, or the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) or Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) meetings. As such, some statements are forum-specific, while others may apply to the Zone process generally. Before publishing the statements on the Compass, all data went through multiple rounds of review for accuracy.

Topics and subtopics included in the Compass represent the various elements of the future Zone treaty and its negotiation phases, as well as topics discussed during the ME WMDFZ meetings. A description of each category is available under Topics page. They were identified and defined based on a literature review of the conceptual, legal, and technical elements and parameters of free zones including some elements reflecting the unique circumstances of the Middle East as reflected in the publicly available statements and documents.

Disclaimer

• The tool includes only publicly available statements. 
• The tool functions as a living resource. New information will be captured as it becomes available. Updates or changes by member states to previously expressed statements will be reflected as soon as they become available. Data will be kept up to date without prejudice to future shifts in views or articulation of positions.
• Each statement entry on the Compass includes a citation and reference to the corresponding source document, including a direct link to the document available in the UNIDIR Middle East WMD-Free Zone Documents Depository. 
• Statements are cited directly from the original documents. No attempt was made to amend the original text for factual or language corrections unless absolutely necessary for readability and understanding of the text and is reflected across the text in square brackets. 
• Statements not originally available in English were translated professionally to English. Links to the original statements are provided in the citation of each statement entry. The translation is provided for information only and confers no rights nor imposes any obligations. Only the official publication in its original language should be considered authentic, as promulgated by the proper government or official authority.
• Information and statements outlined in the Compass shall be treated as mere reflections of deliberations, arguments, or preferences expressed by member states at a specific point in time and subject to change. They do not necessarily reflect official final positions.
• States profiles without available data do not necessarily mean that those states have not made any statements but rather that no such statements are publicly available.
• The Compass provides the user with an option to translate statements to Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew, among other languages, using Google Translate. We disclaim any warranties to these translations, expressed or implied, including the accuracy. 
• Feedback on any issue related to the Compass is welcome, including mistakes, missing information, and translation errors. Please submit your feedback here.