Some Nations Fail to Draft Key Treaty Measures

Chemical Arms Control

Nations party to the Chemical Weapons Convention had until Nov. 11 to enact domestic implementing laws making it illegal to carry out any activity banned by the treaty. Such legislation is required under Article VII of the treaty, which entered into force in 1997.

To date, 175 nations have signed and ratified the treaty, but only 105 have passed implementing legislation. Another 47 countries are drafting such laws. About 20 nations, mostly small countries, have done nothing, not even responding to requests for information.

Implementing laws “have significant antiterrorism value,” says a U.S. official familiar with the treaty. “They give states the ability to prosecute potential terrorists, for example,” the official adds.

Another treaty requirement, the designation of a national authority to act as liaison to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)—the treaty-implementing body—and other state parties was also to be done by Nov. 11. So far, 147 nations have complied.

Six nations—Albania, India, Libya, Russia, South Korea, and the U.S.—have declared chemical weapons arsenals, and all have taken the required measures. But other nations, including Egypt, North Korea, and Syria, are suspected of having chemical weapons and have not even signed the treaty.

At press time, states party to the treaty were meeting in The Hague and were “drafting a follow-up position on what delinquent states are to do to comply with the treaty,” the official says.