The Hague, 22 January 2004

Tuvalu Joins the Chemical Weapons Convention

Tuvalu deposited its instrument of accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 19 January 2004.

On 18 February 2004, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of accession, Tuvalu will become the 160th State Party to the Convention.

In the past 12 months, 12 new Member States have joined the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) —Palau, Guatemala, Andorra, Timor Leste, Tonga, Sao Tome and Principe, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Cape Verde, Belize, Libya, and Tuvalu. Notably, Tuvalu is the third Pacific Island State to accede to the Convention within the past twelve months, bringing the Convention’s universality in that region ever closer. This consistent rise in the Organisation’s membership further confirms the universal validity of this multilateral instrument banning chemical weapons.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Convention's implementing agency, the OPCW, aims to achieve four principal objectives: to eliminate chemical weapons and to prevent their re-emergence, to implement a credible non-proliferation regime, to provide international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, and to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry.

The OPCW urges all States that have not yet joined the Convention to do so as soon as possible.