The Hague, 28 September 2004

The Solomon Islands Joins the Chemical Weapons Convention

The Solomon Islands deposited its instrument of accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 23 September 2004.
Thirty days after that date, on 23 October 2004, it will thus become the 165th State Party to the Convention.

In the past year, eleven States have deposited their instruments of accession to, or ratification of, the Convention to begin the process of becoming Member States of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Cape Verde, Belize, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Tuvalu, Chad, Rwanda, the Marshall Islands, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

The Solomon Islands is the 14th member of the 16-member Pacific Islands Forum to join the Convention. The others are Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Palau, Tuvalu, Tonga, and Marshall Islands. This latest accession brings universal OPCW membership in the region even closer.

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.