Chemical Weapons Ban Conference Opens

The Ninth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is convening in The Hague from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The five-day annual Conference has begun with a record attendance: 118 States Parties to the CWC have arrived for the five-day Conference. In addition, the Signatory States Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras and Israel are participating in the Conference as Observer States. Iraq, which has neither signed nor ratified the CWC, also is observing the Conference. Mr Krzysztof Paturej, Head of Division on Non-proliferation Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland, has been elected as the Chairman of the Conference.

Several International Organisations are also in attendance, including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Arab States, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, as well as thirteen Non-Governmental Organisations and Chemical Industry Associations.

The annual Conference of the States Parties is the highest policy-making organ of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which comprises 167 Member States. At the Ninth Session, delegates will be considering requests for the extension of intermediate deadlines for the destruction of chemical weapons, submitted by Albania and Libya. Both Member States have expressed their firm commitment to complete the total and verified destruction of their chemical weapons stockpiles by 29 April 2007, the final deadline stipulated by the CWC.

In accordance with the CWC, Libya has declared former chemical weapons production facilities at Rabta and has requested the Conference's approval for the facilities' conversion to peaceful purposes. If approval is granted by this Conference, Libya will convert the facility to produce low-cost pharmaceuticals to be distributed in Africa. Specifically, those medicines most urgently needed to deal with AIDS/HIV, malaria and tuberculosis will be produced at the converted facilities.

Many delegations addressed the Conference, reaffirming their Governments' commitment to universal and effective adherence to the CWC. To that end, the Conference will review the status of the implementation of the Action Plans on universality and enhanced national implementation, required by the First Review Conference, to ensure that all States join the Convention and are in a position to adhere to the global chemical weapons ban in all its aspects. This Conference is an important milestone in the pursuit of the action plans, as all States Parties are expected to have all legislative and administrative measures in place by the time of the Tenth Conference in a year's time.

In his opening address to the Conference, OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, reported that by 1 November 2004, four of the six States Parties to have declared chemical weapons had destroyed approximately 10,000 metric tonnes of chemical warfare agent under OPCW verification—a figure representing more than 14.3% of the total stockpiles declared. He noted that the OPCW's overall verification figures demonstrate remarkable progress: nearly two thousand inspections have been conducted to various chemical weapons-related and industrial sites, located on the territory of more than 70 Member States.

Director-General Pfirter noted the growth in the OPCW's membership, namely ten new Member States since the previous Conference in October 2003. Half of the new Member States are located in Africa, while solid progress in the CWC's universality has been made in all global regions. The Director-General nonetheless cautioned that this important achievement "must not lull us into the false belief that our world is virtually free from the scourge of chemical weapons. The Middle East and the Korean Peninsula are still flashing red on our panels and we must redouble our efforts, aimed at incorporating the important countries in those regions that are still outside the Convention as soon as possible. By joining the chemical weapons ban, new States Parties will be sending a positive signal that may be seen as a building block in the effort to create a better and more comprehensive settlement of the overarching political problems affecting them."

63/2004

Categories: Conference of the States Parties