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Vidya has extensively dealt with the relationship between the commonly discussed aspects of ‘development’ with the not very commonly discussed subject of ‘disarmament’ and stresses the need for disarmament in harnessing the benefits of development. Very basically he elaborates on the need for peace for sustainable development focusing on the Commonwealth of Nations.
The six treaties
The objective of the study has been described by the author as to discuss among the member states of the Commonwealth the six treaties, namely
i. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
ii. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
iii. Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention
iv. Convention on Cluster Munitions
v. Arms Trade Treaty and
vi. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The author provides a comprehensive analysis of these six treaties and conventions that have been signed and ratified by each member state of the Commonwealth.
The book consists of 10 main chapters with 285 pages in addition to the several annexures with informative tables and figures. There are 42 colour picture pages in the book vividly describing the relevant scenarios and supporting the contents of each chapter for easy understanding of the reader.
In the first three chapters the author deals extensively on the process of colonisation to decolonisation of the present Commonwealth of Nations, the background, objectives and the formation of the Commonwealth of Nations and one of its noteworthy achievements: the adoption of the ‘Charter of the Commonwealth of Nations on International peace and Security’ in 2012.
Post-independence conflicts
The book elaborates as to how a majority of present Commonwealth of Nations despite gaining independence from the British through non-violent means have thereafter got entangled in internal conflicts as well as external conflicts causing destruction to life and property and enormous suffering to the people.
Accordingly chapter 4 of the book discusses the internal and external armed conflicts of Commonwealth member states since independence (1940s). In the backdrop of such escalation of internal and external conflicts among member nations of the Commonwealth, most of the nations had supported the formation of the United Nations and other global civil society organisations, which had gradually led to the formation of internal treaties and conventions on disarmament and controlling of arms and 
safeguarding the rights of disabled persons.
Socioeconomic analysis
The author has also extensively dealt with a socioeconomic analysis on the Commonwealth Nations in chapter 6 which indicates as to how the conflict ridden nations have suffered in terms of poverty, inflation and economic down turn in comparison to non-conflict ridden nations.
This chapter provides the relevant socioeconomic indicators in the present context and other related data such as Human Development Index (HDI), GDP Per Capita, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Population Distribution among Commonwealth Member States, Expenditure on Health, Education and Military as a percentage of GDP, with a comparison of data among the member states of the Commonwealth and their participation levels with the six treaties and conventions.
Disarmament and Development Index
The author also proposes a new index, the ‘Disarmament and Development Index’ (DDI), and stresses on the need to resume 
discussions on disarmament and development, supplementing the existing socioeconomic indicators of development.
The final four chapters deal on aspects such as participation level of Commonwealth member states in treaties and conventions of disarmament and peace, the need for the developed Commonwealth members states to support its less developed members, the need for a new index to measure disarmament and development and finally some important recommendations for considerations at the upcoming CHOGM to be held in Sri Lanka.
The author has put in a lot of effort to bring to light the need for ‘disarmament’ for peace and sustainability and security of the entire mankind and calls upon the member nations of the Commonwealth to actively get involved in the process for peace through the legally-established modes of ratifying the conventions/treaties and actively implementing same in their respective countries.
The book will be a valuable source of information for the policy makers, scholars, students and people who are interested in the subject of socioeconomic analysis with disarmament (treaties/conventions), human rights, rights of the disabled, etc., specially relating to the Commonwealth of Nations.
(Indrajith Senadhira is an Attorney-at-Law.)
