The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention

Article I CWC not only prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retaining or transfer of chemical weapons (Article I, para 1, lit. a), but also their use (Article I, para 1, lit. b). It is noteworthy that agreement on the inclusion of a prohibition of use could only be reached at a relatively late point in the long-lasting negotiations leading to the CWC.  

The intricate relationship between the CWC and the Geneva Protocol may best be illustrated in respect of three problems first, the situations to which the respective instraments apply second, the agents covered and third, the effect of the CWC on the reservations made to the Geneva Protocol. 

As to the situations covered, it has already been pointed out that the Geneva Protocol only applies to international armed conflicts. In contrast, it is debatable whether the parallel prohibition of chemical warfare in customary international law was and is applicable to non-intemational armed conflicts. Today, States Parties to the CWC clearly state that they will never under any circumstances use chemical weapons. This not only includes international and non-intemational armed conflicts, but it goes far beyond these situations. Rather, the only situations excluded from the prohibition are situations of law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes , as mentioned in Article II, para 9, CWC. This provision only applies to riot control agents, which— as can be taken from Article I, para 5, CWC— are explicitly outlawed as a method of warfare . Thus, the prohibition of use is comprehensive in terms of situations covered, with the only exception of the use of riot control agents for purposes of law enforcement (including riot control). 

A debate emerged on whether or not law enforcanent and domestic riot control are alternatives. However, applying the customary rules on treaty interpretation as reflected in Article 31VCLT and bearing in mind the types and quantities criterion of Article II, para 1, lit. a CWC leads to the conclusion that Article II, para 9, CWC requires enforcement measures pertaining to cases of severe disturbance of public order , and that the two terms describe a single category of purposes.  

In light of UN peace operations, the further question has been put forward whether UN peacekeeping forces (and possibly UN authorized forces) may use chemical agents. In addition to the UN s commitment to comply with the law of armed conflict, the CWC only seems to allow the use of riot control agents by UN forces when acting as a domestic poUce force.  

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The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention A Summary, Chemical Weapons Convention Bulletin, no. 18, December 1992. 

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. 

Australia is a state party to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and played a key role during its negotiation. In 2003 Australia declared to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that it had uncovered a limited number of old chemical weapons (OCW) dating from World War II, which were subsequently verifiably destroyed. There is continuing concern that the sea-dumped CW may pose a future human and environmental hazard in the region. 

An arms control and disarmament agreement that entered into force on 26 March 1975. Its full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons. Unlike the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), no international secretariat exists to oversee implementation of the BTWC. Treaty implementation matters, includ-... 

CHEMICAL WEAPON (CW). The internationally accepted definition of a CW is that contained in the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which states that such weapons consist of one or more of three elements ... 

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) opened for signature in Paris, on January 13, 1993 and entered into force on April 29, 1997. Its complexity is reflected in almost 200 pages of text, containing Preamble and 24 Articles and three Annexes On Chemicals (6 p), On Implementation Verification (105 p), and On Protection of Confidential Information (5 p) [2], To the main pillars of the CWC belong ... 

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) opened for signature 13th January 1993. Entry into Force was after the ratification of 65 signatory states on 29th April 1997. To date there are 167 ratified States Parties and 20 Signatory States which are yet to ratify. There are 16 Non signatory States which have yet to accede to the convention. 

The Chemical Weapons Convention of the 13.01.1993 is disarmament and arms control treaty whose aims are the prohibition of... 

J.P. Perry Robinson etal., The Chemical Weapons Convention The Success of Chemical Disarmament Negotiations, SIPRI Yearbook 1993 Armaments,... 

The Convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and of their destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC) was signed on January 13, 1993, and entered into force on April 29, 1997. The CWC includes 24 Articles, the Annex on Chemicals, the Annex on Implementation and Verification (so-called Verification Annex), and the Confidentiality Annex. The Verification Annex, which by the length occupies the majority of the CWC, is written in 11 parts. Article I lists the general obligations of the CWC as shown in Figure 1. 

Between 1989 and 1993, the Finnish Institute for Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (VERIFTN) initiated four international interlaboratory comparison (round-robin) tests for the verification of chemical disarmament (2) to test the effectiveness of their procedures for the recovery of treaty-related chemicals (Chemical Warfare agents... 

For analyses of the CWC, see the issue of Disarrruiment A Periodic Review by the United Nations 16 1 (1993) devoted to the Convention Brad Roberts, ed.. The Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Issues (Washington, DC CSIS, 1992). 

Robert J. Mathews and Antony S. Taubman, Preparing for Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention Progress during 1993 , in Verification 1994 (London Verification Technology Centre, 1994), pp. 111-128. 

In this chapter, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is the object of examination. The CWC was the first disarmament treaty that totally prohibited and completely eliminated one whole category of weapons of mass destruction with an extremely extensive and intrusive verification system. The Convention has also become a model for subsequent disarmament treaties. It was no surprise that, when the CWC was opened for signature on 13 January 1993, the international community enthusiastically welcomed it as a truly epoch-making treaty. 

Charles Baronian, Destruction of the US Chemical Stockpile , Chemical Weapons Convention Bulletin (Harvard-Sussex Program), No. 22 (December 1993), pp. 14. 

The majority of substances listed on Schedule 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention are considered to be percutaneous hazards (OPCW, 1993). In particular, sulphur mustard (HD) and VX are the most extensively studied agents of this genre and are representative of chemical warfare agents that exhibit mainly local or systemic percutaneous toxicity, respectively (Table 1). 

Iran/Iraq war of the 1980s led to the negotiations being completed with the opening for signature of the Chemical Weapons Convention in January 1993 and its entry into force on 29 April 1997. 

R. Trapp, Verification under the Chemical Weapons Convention On-Site Inspection in Chemical Industry Facilities, SIPRI Chemical and Biological Warfare Studies, No. 14 (Oxford Oxford University Press, 1993), p.8. 

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. 

The fiscal year 1993 Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 102-484) required that the Department of Defense destroy the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons and agents by December 31, 2004. Previous legislation had established earlier deadlines. In January 1993, the United States signed the United Nations-sponsored Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that is intended to prohibit the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. 

In 1993, the United States signed the U.N.-sponsored Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and the Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, commonly referred to as the Chemical Weapons Convention. The United States agreed to dispose of (1) binary chemical weapons, recovered chemical weapons, and former chemical weapon production facilities within 10 years and (2) miscellaneous chemical warfare materiel within five years of the date the convention becomes effective. If ratified by the U.S. Senate, the convention becomes effective 180 days after the 65th nation ratifies the treaty, but not sooner than January 13, 1995. Under the terms of the convention, chemical weapons buried prior to 1977 are exempt from disposal as long as they remain buried. In the United States, burial was... 

The use of mustard gas was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention, adopted in 1993. The United States starting destroying its stockpile of mustard gas even earlier, in 1985, and is now thought to have none of the chemical agent left. 

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