The Markland Group is a Canadian non-governmental organization founded in 1987 by Douglas Scott. It is composed of lawyers, academics and other professionals with a special interest in the compliance aspects of disarmament treaties. The Canadian Council on International Law was founded in 1972 to represent Canadian international law practitioners and academics and to facilitate and promote the study of international legal problems by scholars and professionals.
These two organizations joined forces in March 1995 to conduct a workshop on compliance, a topic which they felt had received insufficient attention from the international legal community. Thirty-eight experts from Canada, the United States and Great Britain were assembled for a series of meetings at the University of Toronto under the chairmanship of Walter Dorn and Christine Elwell. Five of the papers presented at the workshop have since been edited, expanded and updated for publication in this volume. The papers analyse compliance measures under various treaties, with particular attention being given to: The Biological Weapons Convention; the Chemical Weapons Convention; the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Safeguards); Trade and Environment Compliance Measures; and International Humanitarian Law Compliance and Enforcement Mechanisms and their potential impact on Arms Control and Disarmament Treaties.
The Markland Group and the CCIL believe that the study of treaty compliance methodology is still in its infancy. The development of effective, reliable and acceptable compliance systems is imperative, particularly for treaties dealing with disarmament. It is hoped that this volume will provide an impetus for enhanced study of this crucial issue.