Chemical weapons another State Party

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. 

At the conclusion of the negotiation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1992, this treaty was heralded as a major breakthrough in multilateral arms control. It was the first comprehensively verifiable multilateral treaty that completely banned an entire class of weapons, and went further than any previous treaty in the depth, extent and intrusiveness of its verification. Verification under the CWC includes compulsory national declarations about relevant industrial and military activities, destruction of chemical weapons within a time frame with intrusive verification, and a regime of routine inspections of declared industrial and military facilities. Additional features are the possibility of a challenge inspection, whereby a State Party can request an inspection of any site in another State Party at short notice, and provisions for the investigation of alleged use of chemical weapons. 

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... 

This is the most challenging and, at the same time, the most uncertain category. As noted, the Army has identified potential NSCWM burial sites in 31 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, potential overseas chemical weapons burial sites have been identified, but their locations are classified. Under the CWC, a state-party that has abandoned chemical weapons on the territory of another state-party has the responsibility for their removal and disposal (U.S. Army, 1996). 

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. 

A State Party which has abandoned chemical weapons on the territory of another State Party (hereinafter referred to as the Abandoning State Party ) shall, not later than 30 days after this Convention enters into force for it, submit to the Technical Secretariat all available relevant information concerning the abandoned chemical weapons. This information shall include, to the extent possible, the location, type, quantity as well as information on the abandonment, and the condition of the abandoned chemical weapons. 

The Second Review Conference reaffirmed the undertaking of each State Party to destroy all chemical weapons it abandoned on the territory of another State Party in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. It welcomed the existing cooperation between territorial and abandoning States Parties, and noted with concern that a large amount of abandoned chemical weapons remain to be destroyed. The Second Review Conference called upon abandoning States Parties to make the fullest possible efforts to complete destruction as soon as possible with the appropriate cooperation provided by the territorial States Parties. It commended the active and positive role that has been played by the Secretariat in this process, and encouraged it to continue to play such a role in future. 

Special rules apply to chemical weapons that were produced by one State Party and abandoned on the territory of another State Party. Both States Parties are required to declare details of such weapons to the extent possible. Where the abandoning State Party is known or can be subsequently identified, it is responsible for the recovery and destruction of the weapons. In situations where it is not possible to identify the abandoning State Party, the responsibility for the recovery and destruction of the weapons falls on the State Party on whose territory the weapons have been abandoned. In this situation, however, the State Party may seek assistance from the OPCW. 

See Article VIII.l this formula is fairly open-ended and enables States Parties to use the OPCW and its mechanisms regarding chemical weapons issues even if the CWC has no specific provision(s) for a particular issue. Another example is how the OPCW dealt with the issue of terrorism - a problem that negotiators had deliberately left untouched but that the OPCW needed to confront after 9/11. 

Another national implementation issue raised was that a number of States Parties have tended to focus exclusively on specific CWC obligations, and have not developed legislation relevant to the more general requirements of the CWC, such as those in Article I, which embodies the prohibition on chemical weapons. Important in this regard is implementation of the general-purpose definition of chemical weapons, which recognizes that, in addition to the chemicals listed in the CWC Schedules, other toxic chemicals could be used as chemical weapons, either as part... 

The role that the public has assumed - neither enshrined in the treaty documentation nor anticipated by the States Parties is another unique characteristic of the CWC. Here again, the Convention is evolutionary compared with earlier treaties and international agreements. Chemical weapons disposal has emerged as a vivid example of how local environmental justice concerns can intersect with global disarmament and nonproliferation efforts. With no formal inducement, the public has become a player in the execution of the CWC-mandated destruction of chemical weapons. What lessons can be learned from the public response and how... 

The pace of destruction varies, of course, from one possessor State Party to another India is ahead of the schedule whereas, in 2003, the United States and the Russian Federation requested extensions of the deadlines for Category 1 chemical weapons stockpile destruction. It is noteworthy, however, that all such destruction efforts and inspection activities have been conducted safely and steadily without major accidents, let alone casualties. 

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. 

In the event of alleged use of chemical weapons on a state s territory by another, an inspection can also be requested. An investigation of this type would attempt to verify the claim, ascertaining what, where, and when chemical weapons were in fact used. But apart from earning the collective opprobrium from the international community and losing the benefits of being a state party to the CWC, there are no clearly stated repercussions in terms of punitive measures. 

Any State Party which has on its territory chemical weapons that are owned or possessed by another State, or that are located in ary place under the jurisdiction or control of another State, shall make the fullest efforts to ensure that these chemical weapons are removed from its territory not later than one year after this Convention enters into force for it. If they are not removed within one year, the State Party may request the Organization and other States Parties to provide assistance in the destruction of these chemical weapons. 

Noting further that the requirements for reporting of chemical weapons on the territory of a State Party which are owned or possessed by another State are set out in paragraph 4 of Part IV(A) of the Verification Annex ... 

Recommends that the Conference of the States Parties confirm this decision at its Fourth Session and remove the issues of the declaration requirements for chemical weapons and the determination of how States Parties report chemical weapons on their territory which are owned by another State from the list of unresolved issues. 

ABANDONED CHEMICAL WEAPONS (ACW). The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) defines abandoned chemical weapons as chemical weapons (CW) (including old chemical weapons (OCW)) abandoned by a State Party after 1 January 1925 on the territory of another state without the consent of the latter. Official declarations to the effect that a state does not possess chemical weapons sometimes cause confusion because the treaty makes distinctions among the terms abandoned chemical weapons, old chemical weapons, and chemical weapons. 

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