The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, was opened for signature in Paris on 13 January 1993 and entered into force on 29 April 1997. It is the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban an entire category of weapons of mass destruction while providing for verifiable destruction of existing stockpiles within fixed deadlines.
Each State Party undertakes never to develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, transfer, or use chemical weapons, and never to assist anyone in such activities. Parties must also declare and destroy any chemical weapons and production facilities they possess or that are located on their territory, including old and abandoned weapons.
The treaty is implemented by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), headquartered in The Hague. The OPCW operates an extensive verification regime including routine inspections of declared military and industrial sites (governed by the CWC's three Schedules of toxic chemicals and precursors) and challenge inspections, which any State Party may request of another.
As of the mid-2020s the CWC has 193 States Parties, making it among the most universally adhered to disarmament instruments. Non-parties have included Israel (signatory, not ratified), and North Korea, Egypt, and South Sudan (non-signatories). Syria acceded in 2013 after the Ghouta sarin attack, under a US–Russia framework backed by UN Security Council Resolution 2118.
Key compliance episodes include the OPCW-certified destruction of declared US and Russian stockpiles (Russia announced completion in 2017; the United States in July 2023), the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) established in 2018 to attribute use in Syria, and the OPCW Technical Secretariat's confirmation in 2020 that Alexei Navalny had been poisoned with a Novichok-class nerve agent. The OPCW received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013 for its work to eliminate chemical weapons.
Example
After the August 2013 sarin attack in Ghouta, Syria acceded to the CWC under a US–Russia framework, and the OPCW oversaw removal and destruction of its declared chemical weapons stockpile.
Frequently asked questions
As of the mid-2020s, Israel has signed but not ratified, while Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan have neither signed nor acceded. All other UN member states are parties.
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