The Kingdom of Bhutan deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 18 August 2005. Bhutan will become the 171st State Party to the Convention on 17 September 2005, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.
Bhutan’s ratification of the CWC confirms 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.
On 17 September 2005, Bhutan will become a Member State of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), enabling it to benefit from the OPCW’s international cooperation and assistance programmes. By implementing the CWC effectively and in full, Bhutan 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.
With Bhutan’s ratification, all members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) —Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka— are now States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, bringing the OPCW closer to its goal of universality in Asia.
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.
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