Grenada ratifies the CWC

Grenada deposited its instrument of ratification to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 3 June 2005. Grenada will become the 169th State Party to the Convention on 3 July 2005, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.

Grenada's ratification of the CWC confirms the universal validity of this multilateral instrument, which bans the development, production, stockpiling, use or transfer of chemical weapons and enhances collective security through the verified elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

On 3 July 2005, Grenada will become a Member State of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), enabling it to benefit from the OPCW's international cooperation and assistance programmes. By implementing the CWC effectively and in full, Grenada will contribute both to strengthening the global chemical weapons ban, as well as the international community's effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Grenada's ratification now reduces the number of Caribbean basin States that are not yet party to the CWC to six countries, bringing OPCW closer to its goal of universality in the region.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Convention's implementing agency, the OPCW, is mandated to eliminate chemical weapons and to prevent their re-emergence and their proliferation, while providing international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, as well as to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry.

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