Overview of the Chemical Weapons Convention
My subject this morning is a very brief overview of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Much has already been written describing and summarizing the Convention, including several of the Supplementary Papers and the Annex contained within the draft Manual. It is not my goal to restate what many of you already know. Rather, in the short time available, I want to focus on the parts of the Convention that are addressed in the draft Manual, that is, I want to highlight for you those aspects of the CWC that require implementation by individual State Parties. As I do so, I will show you where in the draft Manual each of these matters is addressed so that you can see how our document corresponds to the Convention`s requirements. This will provide a bridge between the plenary sessions and workshops that will consider the implementing measures and the Supplementary Papers in the Manual. In organizing my talk to focus on aspects of the Convention requiring national implementing measures, I necessarily leave out certain of its provisions. Among these intentional omissions are, with all due respect to our hosts, the structure and function of the OPCW, the Annex on Chemicals, and various operational aspects of the Convention such as sanctions, duration and withdrawal, entry into force, reservations, the depository, and the various authentic texts. The provisions that require national implementing measures can be conveniently regarded as creating three different kinds of obligations. First, the Convention obligates the government of each State Party to carry out certain actions, which I will refer to as ``executory obligations.`` Second, each State Party must impose certain requirements on persons over whom it has jurisdiction, which I will call ``enforcement obligations.`` Finally, ``cooperation obligations`` are those requiring State Parties to assist one another and the OPCW to achieve the Convention`s goals.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 10116174
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/DIS/CP-81702; CONF-931243-1; ON: DE94005396
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Conference of the committee of legal experts for national implementing measures for the chemical weapon convention,The Hague (Netherlands),2-18 Dec 1993; Other Information: PBD: 2 Dec 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Implementing the chemical weapons convention
Model national implementing legislation for the chemical weapons convention