• Arms Control Today

During its first year in force, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which bans the use, development, stockpiling, transfer and acquisition of chemical weapons (CW), increased its membership from the original 87 parties at entry into force on April 29, 1997 to 108 states-parties, with 60 signatories that have yet to ratify. The treaty has brought the world's major chemical arsenals (in the United States and Russia) under international monitoring and mandates the verified destruction of CW stockpiles.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), head quartered in the Hague, has carried out over 200 inspections in 25 countries and received declarations detailing chemical weapons-related activities, materials or stockpiles in eleven states. As of the end of April, eight states have declared information on chemical weapons production facilities: the United States, China, France, India, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and South Korea. (Japan declared the chemical weapons production facility formerly used by the Aum Shinrikyo cult.)

Ten states have declared the existence of old or abandoned chemical weapons: the United States, Belgium, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United Kingdom. Four states have declared plans for the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles: the United States, India, Russia and South Korea—with only the U.S. program currently in large-scale operation.

Key non-signatories to the CWC include Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria, which were listed in the Department of Defense's 1997 "Proliferation: Threat and Response" report as states of CW proliferation concern.

—For more information, contact ACA.

Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification/ Accession
Afghanistan	1/14/93
Albania	1/14/93	5/11/94
Algeria	1/13/93	8/14/95
Argentina	1/13/93	10/2/95
Armenia	3/19/93	1/27/95
Australia	1/13/93	5/6/94
Austria	1/13/93	8/17/95
Azerbaijan	1/13/93
Bahamas	3/2/94
Bahrain	2/24/93	4/28/97
Bangladesh	1/14/93	4/25/97
Belarus	1/14/93	7/11/96
Belgium	1/13/93	1/27/97
Benin	1/14/93
Bhutan	4/24/97
Bolivia	1/14/93
Bosnia- Herzegovina	1/16/97	2/25/97
Brazil	1/13/93	3/13/96
Brunei Darussalam	1/13/93	7/28/97
Bulgaria	1/13/93	8/10/94
Burkina Faso	1/14/93	7/8/97
Burundi	1/15/93
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
Cambodia	1/15/93
Cameroon	1/14/93	9/16/96
Canada	1/13/93	9/16/96
Cape Verde	1/15/93
Central African Rep.	1/14/93
Chad	10/11/94
Chile	1/14/93	7/12/96
China	1/13/93	4/25/97
Colombia	1/13/93
Comoros	1/13/93
Congo	1/15/93
Cook Islands	1/14/93	7/15/94
Costa Rica	1/14/93	5/31/96
Cote d'Ivoire	1/13/93	12/18/95
Croatia	1/13/93	5/23/95
Cuba	1/13/93	4/29/97
Cyprus	1/13/93
Czech Republic	1/14/93	3/6/96
Denmark	1/14/93	7/13/95
Djibouti	9/28/93
Dominica	8/2/93
Dominican Republic	1/13/93
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
Ecuador	1/14/93	9/6/95
El Salvador	1/14/93	10/30/95
Equatorial Guinea	1/14/93	4/25/97
Estonia	1/14/93
Ethiopia	1/14/93	5/13/96
Fiji	1/14/93	1/20/93
Finland	1/14/93	2/7/95
France	1/13/93	3/2/95
Gabon	1/13/93
Gambia	1/13/93
Georgia	1/14/93	11/27/95
Germany	1/13/93	8/12/94
Ghana	1/14/93	7/9/97
Greece	1/13/93	12/22/94
Grenada	4/9/97
Guatemala	1/14/93
Guinea	1/14/93	6/9/97
Guinea-Bissau	1/14/93
Haiti	1/14/93
Holy See	1/14/93
Honduras	1/13/93
Hungary	1/13/93	10/31/96
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
Iceland	1/13/93	4/28/97
India	1/14/93	9/3/96
Indonesia	1/13/93
Iran	1/13/93	11/3/97
Ireland	1/14/93	6/24/96
Israel	1/13/93
Italy	1/13/93	12/8/95
Jamaica	4/18/97
Japan	1/13/93	9/15/95
Jordan	N/A	10/29/97
Kazakhstan	1/14/93
Kenya	1/15/93	4/25/97
Korea, South	1/14/93	4/28/97
Kuwait	1/27/93	5/29/97
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
Kyrgyzstan	2/22/93
Laos	5/13/93	2/25/97
Latvia	5/6/93	7/23/96
Lesotho	12/7/94	12/7/94
Liberia	1/15/93
Liechtenstein	7/21/93
Lithuania	1/13/93	4/15/98
Luxembourg	1/13/93	4/15/97
Macedonia	N/A	6/20/97
Madagascar	1/15/93
Malawi	1/14/93
Malaysia	1/13/93
Maldives	10/4/93	5/31/94
Mali	1/13/93	4/28/97
Malta	1/13/93	4/28/97
Marshall Islands	1/13/93
Mauritania	1/13/93	2/9/98
Mauritius	1/14/93	2/9/93
Mexico	1/13/93	8/29/94
Micronesia	1/13/93
Moldova	1/13/93	7/8/96
Monaco	1/13/93	6/1/95
Mongolia	1/14/93	1/17/95
Morocco	1/13/93	12/28/95
Myanmar (Burma)	1/14/93
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
Namibia	1/13/93	11/24/95
Nauru	1/13/93
Nepal	1/19/93	11/18/97
Netherlands	1/14/93	6/30/95
New Zealand	1/14/93	7/15/96
Nicaragua	3/9/93
Niger	1/14/93	4/9/97
Nigeria	1/13/93
Norway	1/13/93	4/7/94
Oman	2/2/93	2/8/95
Pakistan	1/13/93	10/28/97
Panama	6/16/93
Papua New Guinea	1/14/93	4/17/96
Paraguay	1/14/93	12/1/94
Peru	1/14/93	7/20/95
Philippines	1/13/93	12/11/96
Poland	1/13/93	2/23/95
Portugal	1/13/93	9/10/96
Qatar	2/1/93	9/3/97
Romania	1/13/93	2/15/95
Russia	1/13/93	11/5/97
Rwanda	5/17/93
Country	Date of Signature	Date of Ratification / Accession
St. Kitts & Nevis	3/16/94
St. Lucia	3/29/93	4/9/97
St. Vincent & Grenadines	9/20/93
Samoa	1/14/93
San Marino	1/13/93
Saudi Arabia	1/20/93	8/9/96
Senegal	1/13/93
Seychelles	1/15/93	4/7/93
Sierra Leone	1/15/93
Singapore	1/14/93	5/21/97
Slovak Republic	1/14/93	10/27/95
Slovenia	1/14/93	6/11/97
South Africa	1/14/93	9/13/95
Spain	1/13/93	8/3/94
Sri Lanka	1/14/93	8/19/94
Suriname	4/28/97	4/28/97
Swaziland	9/23/93	11/20/96
Sweden	1/13/93	6/17/93
Switzerland	1/14/93	3/10/95
Tajikistan	1/14/93	1/11/95
Tanzania	2/25/94
Thailand	1/14/93
Togo	1/13/93	4/23/97
Trinidad & Tobago	N/A	6/24/97
Tunisia	1/13/93	4/15/97
Turkey	1/14/93	5/12/97
Turkmenistan	10/12/93	9/29/94
Uganda	1/14/93
Ukraine	1/13/93
United Arab Emirates	2/2/93
United Kingdom	1/13/93	5/13/96
United States	1/13/93	4/25/97
Uruguay	1/15/93	10/6/94
Uzbekistan	11/24/95	7/23/96
Venezuela	1/14/93	12/3/97
Vietnam	1/13/93
Yemen	2/8/93
Zaire	1/14/93
Zambia	1/13/93
Zimbabwe	1/13/93	4/25/97

 

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Sources: Multilateral Treaties Deposited With the UN Secretary General, DOD, OPCW, ACA