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Deadline Approaches for CWC National Measures By Chris Schneidmiller WASHINGTON — Parties to the 12-year-old Chemical Weapons Convention are nearing a deadline next week to enact laws to implement the treaty’s ban on production or possession of toxic weapons (see GSN, July 1, 2004). The treaty’s Article 7 requires its members to create domestic rules banning any actions prohibited under the pact. Countries must also designate an agency to monitor chemical activity and to operate as the point of contact for the treaty’s oversight body and other convention nations. Member nations agreed at their May 2003 annual conference to require that Article 7 obligations be met by the 10th Session of the Conference of States Parties, which is scheduled to begin Monday in The Hague. “Doing it in 2 1/2 years was something that the crafters knew was going to be very ambitious, but they were not going to shy away from it, either,” said Peter Kaiser, spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. There are now 175 treaty states; 151 have designated a national authority, while 105 nations have passed the required laws and administrative measures and 47 countries are preparing regulations. The treaty was opened for signature in 1993 and entered into force in 1997. Additional countries should come into compliance by the time the conference ends Nov. 11, Kaiser said. He declined to identify the nations that have not yet implemented their national measures. However, OPCW Director General Rogelio Pfirter, in an April speech, noted several Caribbean island nations that had recently received Article 7 assistance visits from the organization — Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. Representatives from those nations did not respond to requests for information on their treaty efforts. Perhaps more notable than the nations that have not yet met the obligations is that the six nations with declared chemical weapons stocks — Albania, India, Libya, Russia, South Korea and the United States — have taken the required measures, said Paul Walker, director of the Legacy program at Global Green USA. “The most important thing is that all those countries have implemented legislation, that they’re going forward with destruction,” Walker said. Other nations with suspected chemical arsenals — including Egypt, North Korea and Syria — have yet to sign the treaty. Alongside its national implementation effort, the organization is pressing forward with its universality program to have all U.N.-recognized nations join the convention. While the risks for most countries of a terrorist chemical incident are “pretty minor,” they cannot be dismissed, Walker said. Even common chemicals such as chlorine could be used to cause injury, he said.National measures increase a nation’s oversight of chemical activities. Absent or inadequate regulations heighten the risk that prohibited activities could be occurring without leaders’ knowledge or ability to take action, said John Gilbert, senior science fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation. “An example is the Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack in Tokyo in 1995. At that time, it was not illegal in Japan to manufacture or store sarin — although committing murder with sarin was prosecutable,” Gilbert said by e-mail. “Japan later fixed this.” Doing the Right Thing Some countries that have not set their national measures have no chemical industry and appear at little risk for becoming home to any illicit weapons development. Some are also faced with more immediate troubles. Others have only recently joined the treaty and have not had time to finish the work, Kaiser said. “In my opinion, there are also some countries that just don’t care,” Gilbert said. “The CWC is not a priority for countries that are overwhelmed with economic and social problems and several just haven’t devoted any resources to complying.” Meeting the treaty requirements can involve extensive effort. Penal codes and administrative policies must be developed and approved. Personnel must be trained and money must be spent. Those obstacles can be overcome with support and pressure from the organization and the other convention nations, Walker said. The threat of sanctions against countries that remain out of compliance is an option, according to Gilbert. Kaiser said a primary focus of next week’s conference is expected to be strategies for encouraging all CWC nations to undertake the national implementation process. The work can take from three months to two years, Kaiser said. Along with passing the required laws member states must establish controls on imports and exports of dual-use materials, license certain chemical production facilities and organize the national authority to work with OPCW officials and industry representatives. Once a country finishes these steps, it is ready to begin cataloging chemical sites that could be used for terrorist purposes, and to take action against those who would misuse toxic materials, according to the organization. “The national implementation legislation is the only avenue by which you can create a legal chemical weapons ban at the national level by which you can prosecute,” Kaiser said. By meeting their treaty requirements, member states also free themselves from restrictions on chemical commerce — such as limits on buying or selling some dual-use substances that could be used in weapons. “They have to know why this is important not only for security but for economic development,” Kaiser said. Taking steps to meet the Chemical Weapons Convention commitments can help leaders meet their obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, which requires nations to adopt rules and regulations to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The organization and its members that have already gone through the process are supporting the remaining nations, officials said. “The United States is taking part in the international effort to encourage other countries to meet the November 2005 deadline,” said State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck. That includes sending U.S. experts to OPCW workshops, she said. Twenty-five treaty members — from Algeria to the United Kingdom — and the European Union have supplied financial support and expertise to assist other nations in fulfilling their Article 7 obligations, Kaiser said. The organization itself has conducted more than two dozen instructional workshops, four national authority training conferences and 51 technical assistance visits to specific countries. Additional support ranges from providing templates and drafting kits for legislation to donating computers and software. It is “country-by-country, tailor-made assistance,” Kaiser said. While not all treaty states will meet the deadline, Walker said he hopes to see them enact the necessary measures in the coming years. “It would be nice to get full implementing legislation by all members by the 10th anniversary of the treaty’s entrance into force, April 2007,” he said. “I think that’s doable.”
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