Facebook Twitter Youtube Linkedin

HCoC.at

Supporting the Hague Code of Conduct

an FRS project funded by the European Union

Security, Technology, and Cooperation: The Future of the HCoC

5 December 2025

Geneva

 

 

This event explored how the Hague Code of Conduct can continue to curb ballistic missile proliferation amid new geopolitical and technological challenges. 

OVERVIEW

The seminar, Held in Geneva on 5 December 2025, successfully convened international experts and diplomats to address the evolving relevance of the Hague Code of Conduct (HCoC) after more than two decades. While ballistic proliferation remains a global phenomenon, the HCoC has long served to create restraint in WMD-able ballistic missile transfers and testing; however, new developments in geopolitics and technology create additional challenges and opportunities for the Code.

The event navigated the complex intersection of rising geopolitical tensions and rapid technological advancements, with high-level panels assessing the role the HCoC can play in the current context and in the future.

Featuring key figures such as HCoC Chair Amb. Alejandro Garofali and EU Special Envoy Amb. Stefan Klement, participants explored how the Code can adapt to new security realities, ultimately reinforcing its critical status as a flexible yet essential instrument for transparency and restraint.

First Session: Role of the HCoC in a tense international environment

 MODERATOR:

  • Mr Alexandre Houdayer, Secretary General, FRS


PANELLISTS:

  • Amb. Alejandro Garofali, Representative of Uruguay to the United Nations (Vienna), Chair of the HCoC (2025-2026)

  • Amb. Stefan Klement, EU Special Envoy for Non-proliferation and Disarmament, EEAS

  • Mr Andrey Baklitskiy, Senior Researcher, UNIDIR

  • Amb. George-Wilhelm Gallhofer, Director for Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, MFA, Austria (Executive Secretariat of the HCoC)

 

Second Session: The HCoC and the evolution of missile and launcher technologies

  • Mr Etienne Marcuz,  Associate Fellow, FRS

  • Dr Laetitia Cesari,  Consultant, UNIDIR

  • Ms Emmanuelle Maitre, Senior Research Fellow, FRS
May
2023
Issue Briefs

The HCoC and Strategic Risk Reduction

As a multilateral instrument, the HCoC holds a particular place in a global architecture of measures that attempts to reduce the destabilising nature of ballistic missiles. By promoting transparency about policies and launches, it aims to limit the risk of misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and worst-case assessments.

Read More »
March
2022
Research Papers

The Hague Code of Conduct and Space

This paper considers the dual approach of the Code by analysing the similarities between launchers and ballistic missiles in light of new technical developments, and assessing the risk of missile technology proliferation. It also assesses the new trends and developments in the space sector that may have an impact on the ability of the HCoC to remain relevant in its efforts to curb the proliferation of ballistic launchers.

Read More »