Abandoned chemical weapons

Ibid. Chinese Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament, Some Information on Discovered Chemical Weapons Abandoned in China by a Foreign State , CD/1127 (CD/CW/WP.384) (15 February 1992). 

In the CWC framework, old chemical weapons are chemical weapons that (1) were produced before 1925 or (2) were produced in the period between 1925 and 1946 and have deteriorated to such extent that they can no longer be used as chemical weapons. Abandoned chemical weapons are chemical weapons, including old chemical weapons, abandoned by a state after January 1, 1925, on the territory of another state without the consent of the latter. Each party to the CWC must declare whether chemical weapons have been abandoned on its territory, and the party that abandoned such weapons must also declare that it did so. The party that abandoned the chemical weapons is obligated to destroy them. Although there are a significant number of abandoned chemical weapons, the exact location of most of the abandoned weapons is not public information. 

Significantly, a state that is party to the Convention has primary responsibility for the disposal and clean-up of chemical weapons abandoned on another state party s territory. As the verification annex of the CWC states, [the] Abandoning State Party shall provide all necessary financial, technical, expert, facility as well as other resources. The Territorial State Party shall provide appropriate cooperation. This is the clause that, for example, obUges Japan to survey the remains of chemical weapons its armies left behind in China and pay the associated costs of disposal. 

Chemical weapons, including old chemical weapons, abandoned by a State after 1 January 1925 on the territory of another State without the consent of the latter. 

The Council noted the Director-General s statement in his re report, provided in accordance with paragraph 4 of EC-67/DEC.6 (dated 15 February 2012), that the deadline for the destruction of ACWs as estabhshed by the Coimcil at its Forty-Sixth Session has not been fully met (EC-68/DG.9). The Council also recalled that it had adopted a decision at its previous session entitled The Eteadline of 29 April 2012 and Future Destraction of Chemical Weapons Abandoned by Japan in the People s Republic of China (EC-67/ DEC.6). 

The Council also reaffirmed that it had adopted a decision at its previous session entitled The Deadline of 29 April 2012 and Future Destruction of Chemical Weapons Abandoned by Japan in the People s Republic of China (EC-67/DEC.6). 

Peoples Republic of China Working Paper (1992) Some information on discovered chemical weapons abandoned in China by a foreign State. CD 1127, Conference on Disarmament, Geneva... 

Each State Party undertakes to destroy all chemical weapons it abandoned on the territory of another State Party, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention. 

The destruction of these declared stockpiles has made considerable progress. There have been difficulties and delays, but there is no doubting the full commitment of all possessor States Parties to complete the destruction of all their chemical weapons within the time frames established by the Convention. Furthermore, facilities that were used in the past to produce chemical weapons are being destroyed or converted for legitimate purposes. Destruction as well as conversion operations are subject to systematic verification by the OPCW, which has conducted more than 1,800 inspections, in 65 States Parties, since the beginning of inspections in 1997. More than 1,000 of these inspections were conducted at CW facilities (CW storage facilities, former CW production facilities, destruction operations, and locations where old and/or abandoned chemical weapons are being recovered and destroyed). Some... 

Citizens in China have already demonstrated awareness of issues surrounding the abandoned chemical weapons on their territory. The CWC assigns responsibility for the disposal of abandoned weapons to the state that produced and originally deployed them. In the 1940s, Japanese forces abandoned a large number of chemical munitions in the northeast of China, the majority having been found in the Jilin and Heilong-... 

Hongmei Deng and Peter O Meara Evans, Social and Environmental Aspects of Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China , Nonproliferation Review 4 (1997), pp. 101-108. 

Hongmei Deng and O Meara Evans, Social and Environmental Aspects of Abandoned Chemical Weapons in China Poison Gas Shells in China, Japan Must Be Disposed of Tokyo Court Rejects Suit on Chemical Weapons in China , Kyodo News Service (Japan) (15 May 2003) Japanese Court Rejects Chinese Case over Wartime Chemical Weapons Damage , Kyodo News Service (Japan) (16 May 2003) Keiichi Tsuneishi, Disposing of Japan s World War II Poison Gas in China , Asahi Shimbun (Japan) (10 November 2003). 

Minute quantities of sulfur mustard are used by various military and contract laboratories for defense research purposes, and for verification of Chemical Weapons Convention comphance. Bulk quantities of sulfur mustard are no longer manufactured in the USA. Military stockpiles of sulfur mustard are awaiting destruction or are in the process of being destroyed. Some sulfur mustard may also be found buried or abandoned at former defense sites. Sulfur mustard was frequently loaded into artillery shells and aerial bombs (often with lewisite). Various quantities of sulfur mustard also exist in other countries. Large amounts of sulfur mustard have been disposed of at sea. 

Hanaoka, S., Nomura, K., Wada, T. (2006). Determination of mustard and lewisite related compounds in abandoned chemical weapons (yellow shells) from sources in China and Japan. J. Chromatogr. A 1101 268-77. 

The total world declared stockpile of chemical weapons was about 59,000 tons in early 2006. As of March 31, 2006 the U.S. has destroyed 10,103 metric tons of chemical agents since entry-into-force of the CWC, or 36.4% of its declared inventory of 27,768 metric tons, far more than aU other declared CW possessors combined (U S. Department of State, Fact Sheet, 2006). The U.S. chemical demilitarization program is projected to be completed in 2012, but it may take as long as 2020. Japan is obligated to destroy aU abandoned CW agents in China by 2007, but has asked for an extension to 2012. (Guangdong News, 2006). 

Article I of the CWC obliges states parties to destroy any chemical weapon stockpiles in its possession or which it has abandoned on the territory of another state party. As well, a state party must destroy its chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs) or convert them for peaceful purposes not prohibited under the Convention. A state party is required within 30 days of ratifying or acceding to the Convention to declare to the Technical Secretariat whether or not it possesses any chemical weapons or has possessed or produced them in the past. Likewise, old chemical weapons (OCW), both those produced before 1925, and those produced between 1925 and 1946, have to be declared. A state party must also notify the OPCW if it has... 

Six states parties - the United States, Russia, India and South Korea immediately after the CWC s entry into force64 plus Albania after it had discovered CW on its territory and Libya after its accession to the CWC in January 2004 - have declared the possession of chemical weapons stockpiles. These countries have declared a total of around 70,000 metric tons of chemical agents and about 8.6 Mill, munitions and containers.65 Eleven states parties have declared a total of 61 current or past CWPFs,66 nine states parties have declared possessing old CW,67 and three have declared the existence of abandoned chemical weapons on their territory.68 Japan has declared that it had abandoned CW on Chinese territory.69... 

These two categories do not impact the obligation to destroy such weapons, since the CWC requires both old chemical weapons and abandoned chemical weapons to be declared (whether on a member nation s own territory or the territory of another) and destroyed within the CWC treaty deadline if they are unearthed prior to the deadline (Pearson and Magee, 2002). However, because old and abandoned CWM might also be found after the CWC deadline, their disposal will likely continue after 2007. The CWC requires abandoned weapons to be destroyed as toxic waste in accordance with the national regulations of the country in which the weapons reside. 

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