The Hague, 18 February 2003

Guatemala Ratifies the CWC

Guatemala deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 12 February 2003.

Thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of accession, on 14 March 2003, Guatemala will become the 150th State Party to the Convention.

The United Nations has included the Chemical Weapons Convention in the group of 25 “core treaties”, which each U.N. Member State is urged to ratify to ensure peace and security for all. Since the Convention entered into force in 1997, over three-quarters of the United Nations’ Member States have joined the OPCW. Of the remaining 44 States that are not as yet Member States, 25 States have signed, but await ratification of the Convention. A further 19 States have neither signed nor ratified the Convention, remaining entirely outside the global ban on chemical weapons.

Guatemala’s ratification of this key disarmament instrument, banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction, has brought North, South and Central America and the Caribbean much closer to the goal of universal membership within that region.

In the past six months, the Organisation’s membership has been expanded by the accession or ratification of five new States Parties: St Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Thailand, Palau and Guatemala. The growth in the Organisation’s membership confirms the universal validity of multilateral instruments banning chemical weapons.