The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was established in 1957 to provide assistance to states interested in developing atomic energy. The goal of the IAEA is to establish a system of inspection and control to ensure, inter alia, that the aid is not used for military purposes. The agency was started based on U.S. President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” address to the United Nations General Assembly on December 8, 1953. According to the Statute of the IAEA “the Agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world. It shall ensure, so far as it is able, that assistance provided by it or at its request or under its supervision or control is not used in such a way as to further any military purpose."
The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA is an independent international organization. The IAEA’s relationship with the United Nations is regulated by a series of treaties that require the IAEA to keep the United Nations informed of its activities by submitting reports on its activities to the General Assembly at each regular session. The text of the Agency’s Agreements with the United Nations, October 30, 1959, IAEA Doc. INFCIRC/11, is available here.
[Last updated in March of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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