The Hague, 14 October 2003

Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde Join the Chemical Weapons Ban

Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde have deposited their instruments of ratification to the Convention on 29 September 2003 and 10 October 2003, respectively. The Convention will enter into force for Kyrgyzstan on 29 October 2003 and on 9 November 2003 for Cape Verde.

The Organisation now numbers 157 States Parties (including three Contracting States Parties, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cape Verde).

With Afghanistan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s ratifications, all seven Central Asian Republics have become Member States, dedicated to the effective implementation of the global chemical weapons ban, significantly increasing the scope of the Chemical Weapons Convention’s non-proliferation regime.

Cape Verde is the second African State to join the Convention in 2003, following Sao Tome and Principe’s accession in the past month. Now 38 African Member States actively support the Organisation’s mission. The goal of Convention’s universality on the African continent has been reiterated by the African Union in its Summit conferences held in Durban, 2002, and Maputo, 2003. To ensure a world free of chemical weapons, universal adherence to this global treaty is essential.

In the past 12 months, 12 new Member States have joined the Organisation. The steady increase in the Organisation’s membership further confirms the universal validity of multilateral instruments, banning chemical weapons.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Convention's implementing agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, aims to achieve four principal objectives: the elimination of all declared chemical weapons and the capacity to develop them, the verification of non-proliferation, international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, and international cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry.