Holdout Nations Urged To Join Weapons Treaty

The United Nations is calling on the eight countries that remain outside the Chemical Weapons Convention to join the international accord that prohibits the production, stockpiling, or use of chemical warfare materials. “There is no excuse for delays in ridding our planet of these instruments of suffering and death,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says. Six countries have not yet signed or ratified the convention—Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria. Israel and Myanmar signed but have not yet ratified the treaty. As of Jan. 31, more than 50,000 metric tons of chemical weapons—or 73% of the global stockpile—have been destroyed, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the UN-affiliated entity that verifies compliance with the convention. Russia has eliminated 62% of its 40,000-metric-ton arsenal, which was the world’s largest, while the U.S. has destroyed 90% of its 27,000-metric-ton-stockpile. Albania, India, and South Korea have finished off their chemical munitions.