Honduras ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention

The Republic of Honduras deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 29 August 2005 . Honduras will become a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention on 28 September 2005, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of ratification, bringing the total number of OPCW Member States to 173.

Honduras' ratification of the CWC has confirmed the universal validity of this multilateral instrument, which bans the development, production, stockpiling, use or transfer of chemical weapons, and enhances collective security through the verified elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.

By implementing the CWC effectively and in full, Honduras will contribute both to strengthening the global chemical weapons ban, as well as the international community's effort to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. As a Member State, it will also be entitled to benefit from the OPCW's international cooperation and assistance programmes.

Following ratification by Honduras, all of the countries Central, North and South America are now also covered by the Convention's arms control and disarmament regime, together with the vast majority of States in the Caribbean basin. These developments are fully in conformity with the resolution adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in June 2004 on the establishment of the Americas as a biological- and chemical-weapons-free region. Already, 31 of the 35 members of the OAS have joined the Convention.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997 . The Convention's implementing agency, the OPCW, is mandated to verify the elimination of chemical weapons and to prevent their re-emergence and their proliferation, while providing international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, as well as to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry. To achieve an effective, global ban on chemical weapons, the OPCW strives to achieve universal adherence to the Convention. Currently, 12 States have signed, but have not yet ratified this treaty. A further 9 States have neither signed, nor ratified the Convention.

41/2005

Categories: Latin America and the Caribbean, Universality