The Convention was open for signature from 13 January 1993 through 28 April 1997. After that date, States which did not sign the Convention can accede to it.

Dominican Republic

Guinea-Bissau

A Global Convention to Ban
     Chemical Weapons

In 1997, a new kind of disarmament treaty entered into force. The purpose of this novel international effort, the Chemical Weapons Convention, is to ban the development, production, stockpiling, use or transfer of chemical weapons.

The goal of the Convention is to eliminate chemical weapons, forever, by destroying the existing stockpiles and preventing the production of new chemical weapons. An ever-expanding community of nations, now numbering 164 States Parties to the Convention (as at 22 June 2004), is dedicated to achieving this disarmament goal. Collectively, these countries, or Member States, form the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. A major Review Conference has just assessed progress over the first six years of the Convention's implementation and has set the agenda for the future.

The six States Parties that have declared chemical weapons have to destroy over eight million items, including munitions and containers —in total, seventy thousand metric tonnes of extremely toxic chemical agents. By comparison, a tiny drop of nerve agent, no larger than the head of a pin, can kill an adult within minutes after exposure.

The OPCW monitors and verifies that the destruction process is irreversible. At the same time, the State Party shall place the highest priority on the safety of people and the protection of the environment when chemical weapons are destroyed.

The world's chemical industry manufactures the compounds we depend upon for daily life. Some very common chemicals can, if misused, be employed directly, or through further synthesis with other substances, as chemical weapons. Together with governments, and with the support of the global chemical industry, the OPCW monitors the trade and production of the “dual-use” chemicals so that they are not diverted from their peaceful purposes.

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