Chemical Weapons Convention

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Member States of the Chemical Weapons Convention
  • Signed and ratified
  • Joined
  • Signed but not ratified
  • Not signed

    • The Chemical Weapons Convention ( CWK for short ; also Chemical Weapons Convention , CWC , CWC ) is an international agreement of member states of the United Nations that prohibits the development, manufacture, possession, transfer and use of chemical weapons . The long term is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Storage and Use of Chemical Weapons and on the Destruction of Such Weapons . It came into force on April 29, 1997 .

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    The convention provides for a number of comprehensive and specific disarmament steps. By depositing the ratification document with the United Nations , the signatory states undertake to declare existing stocks and to destroy all chemical weapons under international supervision by 2012. In addition to toxic chemicals, the CWÜ also describes ammunition or devices as chemical weapons that are specifically designed to cause death or other damage by exploiting the toxic properties of the chemicals listed. According to Art. II No. 2 CWÜ, a toxic chemical is understood to be any chemical which, through its chemical effect on life processes, can cause death, temporary inability to act or permanent damage to humans or animals.

    Since its entry into force in 1997, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague , has been responsible for monitoring compliance with the Convention . Its organs are the Conference of the States Parties, the Executive Council and the Technical Secretariat. In a so-called "Verification Annex" to the Convention, individual areas of the contractual obligations are spelled out in more detail. It should be emphasized here that the chemical industry is subject to extensive controls by the OVCW as far as it manufactures or handles relevant chemicals. Each State Party must report plants that handle certain chemicals to the OPCW and allow the OPCW to inspect the plants. In the verification annex, the chemicals are listed in Lists 1, 2 and 3 depending on their risk of abuse, with List 1 listing chemical warfare agents such as mustard , List 2 direct CW precursors such as thiodiglycol (S mustard) and List 3 bulk chemicals such as lists the highly toxic phosgene or precursors such as triethanolamine . The frequency and scope of the inspections in the plants are based on the chemical lists. In addition to the control of the plants that deal directly with listed chemicals, the manufacturing potential of the other plants should also be controlled, since a large number of chemical plants can be converted relatively easily for chemical weapons purposes. Therefore, in addition to the strictly controlled plants that deal with list chemicals, the contracting states must also report those plants that deal with so-called certain organic chemicals (BOC, DOC). These plants are also checked by OVCW inspections, but the test duration and scope are shorter than for the list chemicals. In the event of suspected violations, each contracting state of the OPCW can request a suspicious transaction inspection, which must be approved by a conference of the contracting states. If the suspicions are confirmed, the OPCW can involve both the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council . The latter can punish non-compliance with sanctions .

    The Chemical Weapons Convention is in line with the principles of the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibiting the use of chemical weapons in war. The prohibition of the development, manufacture and storage of biological weapons by the Bioweapons Convention 1972 remains unaffected.

    The list was expanded for the first time at the end of November 2019. Novitschok , with whom the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in Great Britain in March 2018 , was newly admitted .

    Signatory States

    The convention was adopted on September 3, 1992 by the member states of the Geneva Disarmament Conference . After approval by the UN General Assembly in December 1992, it was opened for subscription from January 13 to 15, 1993 in Paris, then at the United Nations headquarters in New York. On April 29, 1997, 180 days after the 65th signatory state deposited its instrument of ratification , the Chemical Weapons Convention came into force. The convention was ratified by Germany in 1994 , and by Austria and Switzerland in 1995 . These ratifications came into force on April 29, 1997. As of May 17, 2018, the convention is now valid in 193 countries.

    After Syria , which acceded to the Convention on September 14, 2013, Myanmar and Angola most recently acceded with effect from July 7 and October 16, 2015, respectively, and Palestine with effect from May 17, 2018. Signed in January 1993, but to this day not yet ratified, the Treaty of Israel has been .

    Germany has passed an implementation law for the Chemical Weapons Convention. The responsible authority is the Federal Foreign Office . The Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) is responsible for collecting the registration data and accompanying OPCW inspections and controlling imports and exports . Violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention are punishable by punishment. The USA imposed an additional duty to punish violations of the convention (weapons of mass destruction). As a result of this provision, new sanctions against Russia came into force at the end of August 2018 in relation to the attack on Sergei Skripal , according to the NZZ as "in line with Syria and North Korea".

    Non-signatory states

    Egypt , North Korea and South Sudan have neither signed nor ratified the convention .

    literature

    Web links

    Commons : Chemical Weapons Convention  - collection of images, videos and audio files

    Individual evidence

    1. ↑ OPCW puts neurotoxin Novitschok on the list of prohibited substances. Der Standard , November 28, 2019, accessed the same day.
    2. ↑ opcw.org: Member States of the Chemical Weapons Convention
    3. ↑ opcw.org: Member State - Palestine
    4. ↑ NZZ, August 28, 2018, page 2