Introduction What is Being Done to Halt the Further Spread of Nuclear Weapons? Why Are IAEA Safeguards Important? What Assurances Do Safeguards Seek to Provide? How Are Safeguards Agreements Implemented? What Specific Challenges Have There Been for IAEA Verification? Can the IAEA Prevent the Diversion of Declared Material? How Has the Safeguards System Been Strengthened? How Much Do Safeguards Cost? What is the Future of IAEA Verification? Conclusion Further Reading		Conclusion The international community and the IAEA have faced some serious challenges in maintaining the global non-proliferation regime, especially in the 1990s. But the end of the Cold War, the revelations of Iraq's secret nuclear weapons programme and the emergence of new democracies with new security perceptions have together provided the impetus for strengthening the Safeguards System - today it possesses greater capabilities to detect both clandestine diversion and production of nuclear materials. With the adoption of the new Model Protocol to safeguards agreements, countries around the world will - one by one - help to move beyond an era when the threat of nuclear weapons and their proliferation was a dominant feature of the international landscape.