‘Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible…’
(Science and technology review under the BTWC, Part 1) The next series of Meetings of Experts (MX) of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) is due to take place between 30 August and 8 September, a year later than originally scheduled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, provided there is no fresh resurgence in the number of infections forcing fresh meeting and travel restrictions. If the MXs proceed as planned (albeit with reduced in-person attendance), the Meeting of States Parties (MSP) will likely convene before the end of the year. The pandemic has also pushed back the 9th …
Before the 1925 Geneva Protocol: First (mis)steps to constraining chemical weapons
17 June is the anniversary of the signing in 1925 of the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, more commonly known as the Geneva Protocol after the place where it was negotiated. In a blog posting six years ago, I discussed how the negotiators of the Geneva Protocol stumbled across the dual-use dilemma when trying to control toxic chemicals so that belligerents would not be able to use them again as weapons of war. However, in the absence of a formal international treaty outlawing the …
Sanctioning Syria: An Analysis of the OPCW Vote
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) completed its 25th session of the Conference of the States Parties (CSP) on 22 April, the 106th anniversary of the first massive use of chlorine as a warfare agent in the First World War. Due to the sanitary restrictions to contain the global coronavirus pandemic, the OPCW spread the CSP-25 over two sittings. The first one took place on 30 November and 1 December 2020. Its primary objective was the adoption of the work programme and budget for 2021, which the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) could not …
Remarks at the CWCC webinar on ‘Reinforcing the Norm Against Chemical Weapons’
Remarks at the webinar Reinforcing the Norm Against Chemical Weapons: The April 20-22 Conference of States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, organised by the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition and the Arms Control Association, 10 May 2021 Director-General Arias, Ambassador Helfand, Ambassador Lingner, Participants, I am pleased to join this webinar of the global non-governmental platform, the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition (CWCC). As a CWCC member from the start, I wish to express my gratitude to Paul Walker, who has been the engine behind the initiative for as long as it has existed, and to the states parties to …