Geneva chemical weapons convention

The Geneva chemical weapons convention of 1925 banned the first use but not the stockpiling of chemical weapons. Most countries ratified the treaty quickly but the USA did not do so until 1975. There are still three countries, North Korea, Syria and Israel, who still have not ratified the treaty at the time of writing. 

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, shortly described as Convention on general and comprehensive prohibition of chemical weapons, or Chemical Weapons Convention, abbreviated as CWC, was adopted in 1992 after complex negotiations on the basis of The Conference on Disarmament (and previous multilateral negotiating fora in Geneva), lasting nearly a quarter of a century mainly due to the worldwide spread of chemical industry and relatively easy... 

Some may argue that it was the existence of the Geneva Convention that prevented chemical weapon use in the Second Word War but the size of the stockpiles in various countries does not really support this argument. When one looks at the size of the US and USSR stockpiles declared under the Chemical Weapons Convention 1997, it becomes apparent that very large quantities were considered necessary to be militarily effective. There is such a significant logistic burden in deploying such stocks that any commander would like to be confident about the outcome. This may be another reason why chemicals were not used. 

For a useful summary of the end-game issues, see Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Chemical Weapons, Explanatory Note on the Draft Chemical Weapons Convention, in Document CD/CW/WP/Rev.l, CD/WP/WP.414, 26 June 1992 (Geneva). 

Clearly the threat of chemical warfare is still very real, and research continues into defensive technology such as nerve gas vaccines and chemical sensors. The Chemical Weapons Convention came into effect in 1997 and it has taken the Geneva Protocol... 

This chapter examines the prohibitions in the relevant treaties - the Geneva Protocol of 1925, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention - and concludes that chemical weapons are totally prohibited. Consideration is given to the risk of use of chemical weapons posed in the 21st Century, both by states and by other organizations and individuals, such as terrorists, and to how these risks can be countered by the effective implementation of the treaties. 

As of February 2005, there are 134 States Parties to the 1925 Geneva Protocol. In addition, many of the States Parties, which entered reservations, have lifted those reservations as they are incompatible with the obligations under the later Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. However, there have been successive UnitedNations General Assembly resolutions on measures to uphold the authority of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, such as that adopted in October 2004 which include language that ... 

The Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the first use of chemicals for wartime use. Since 1928, an international treaty has banned the use of chemical weapons but not their development and production. A multilateral treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), would require the destruction of chemical weapons and the means to produce them. The United States signed the convention in 1993 but has not ratified it as of July 1996. Earlier, the United States signed bilateral agreements with Russia aimed at destroying both countries chemical weapon stockpiles. 

Keywords Chemical weapons Chemical warfare Disarmament International criminal law Means and methods of warfare Geneva protocol 1925 Hague regulations 1899/1907 Chemical weapons convention 1993 Rome statute 1998 Kampala amendments 2010... 

The Chemical Weapons Convention is supposed to apply in time of war, but some leaders of developing states, recalling the failure to uphold the Geneva Protocol, may remain sceptical. By October 1988, after his... 

Secondly progress towards the control of chemical weapons has been extremely slow. Under United Nations auspices various committees, based in Geneva, originally the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament now the Conference on Disarmament, have been engaged in seeking a chemical weapons convention... 

Recalling the determination of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention for the sake of all mankind, to exclude completely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons, through the implementation of the provisions of this Convention, thereby complementing the obligations assumed under the Geneva Protocol of 1925 ... 

The Second Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter the Second Review Conference ) was opened at 15 12 on 7 April 2008 by the Chairperson of the Twelfth Session of the Conference of the States Parties (hereinafter the Conference ), Ambassador Abuel-gasim Abdelwahid Shiekh Idris of Sudan. It received a message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), delivered by his special representative, Mr Tim Caughley, Director of the Geneva Branch, Office for Disarmament Affairs and Deputy Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament (RC-2/2, dated 7 April 2008). 

MEASURES TO UPHOLD THE AUTHORITY OF THE 1925 GENEVA PROTOCOL AND TO SUPPORT THE CONCLUSION OF A CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION... 

Nevertheless, it was events in Kurdistan in particular which fully illustrated both the ambiguity of what was banned and the absence of verification measures under the Geneva Protocol. Only use of chemical weapons was banned, not possession. In 1972 the United Nations General Assembly had adopted the Convention of the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Biological Weapons. Chemical weapons fell outside this convention and by 1988 it became clear that a chemical weapons treaty was urgently needed to place effective constraints on the proliferation of these weapons worldwide. 

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