The Hague, 21 October 2004

Madagascar Joins the Chemical Weapons Convention

Madagascar deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 October 2004. Thirty days after that date, on 19 November 2004, Madagascar will become the 167th State Party to the Convention.

The OPCW seeks to achieve universal adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Five African States —Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Chad, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Madagascar— are among the ten newest OPCW Member States to have ratified or acceded to the Convention in the past year. Madagascar’s ratification brings Africa closer to universal OPCW membership, in order to realize the African Union’s goal of establishing a chemical weapons-free zone in the region.

In the pursuit of universality in Africa, recent workshops on universality have been conducted in Africa by the OPCW in collaboration with the African Union and OPCW Member States. When the Convention enters into force for Madagascar, a total of 43 African States will be party to the Convention.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. Adherence to the CWC makes an important contribution to international peace and security and global anti-terrorism efforts, providing concrete benefits for all OPCW Member States. 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.