Chemical Weapons Convention Chief Removed at U.S. Initiative
The head of the organization implementing the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC) was voted out of office by convention member states
on April 22, ending a nearly three-month-long diplomatic offensive
led by the United States.
With 43 delegations abstaining, states voted 48 to 7 to remove
José Bustani, a Brazilian who has headed the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) since its inception
almost five years ago. Two-thirds of states attending and voting
had to vote in favor of removing Bustani for him to be unseated.
Many European countries, U.S. allies, and India backed the U.S.-led
motion of dismissal; Belarus, Brazil, China, Cuba, Iran, Mexico,
and Russia voted against Bustani’s removal.
The United States, which pays 22 percent of the OPCW’s budget,
had made implicit threats not to pay the rest of its dues to the
organization if Bustani maintained his position, according to an
OPCW official. This prompted speculation that other countries went
along with the U.S. initiative to avoid depriving the organization
of needed funds.
Speaking after the vote, Bustani said, “I clearly made some
people in Washington very uncomfortable because I was too independent.
They want somebody more obedient,” The New York Times
reported. The former director-general was also reported to have
complained that his removal was illegal. Although the conference
used its normal rules for voting on substantive issues, the convention
does not specify rules for removing its head.
The State Department hailed Bustani’s removal as “an
essential first step in restoring stability and sound management”
to the OPCW and said the United States “will work closely with
other concerned member states to restore the organization to sound
financial footing and to overcome the other financial difficulties
that it has faced in recent years.” A U.S. official indicated
that this would involve expediting payment of remaining U.S. arrears.
The Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws chemical weapons
and orders their destruction, has been in force since 1997. It charges
the OPCW with conducting routine inspections of countries’
chemical weapons-related activities and monitors member states’
chemical industries. Countries can also request the OPCW to conduct
short-notice inspections anywhere in another member state.
The OPCW recently suffered a major financial crisis, however, and
was forced to scale back its verification activities. According
to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, the organization
has not been “able to carry out their mandate. For example,
they’re only carrying out this year 55 percent of their planned
inspections.”
Washington alleges that Bustani’s financial mismanagement
of his organization is to blame. But Bustani has contended that
in 2001 the United States imposed a budget that was inadequate to
implement the organization’s work program fully and has asserted
that verification cutbacks have resulted from “chronic underfunding.”
The United States supported Bustani’s re-election in May 2000.
But Washington noticed a “steady decline in Bustani’s
performance,” the U.S. official said, adding that an attempt
by the director-general to remove his deputy, Australian John Gee,
was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
So, starting in late January, Washington began to seek Bustani’s
removal. Along with Germany, Japan, Poland, and South Korea, the
United States first pursued a course of quiet diplomacy, contacting
Brazil to try to secure the director-general’s removal, according
to the U.S. official. When that tack did not work, the United States
tabled a motion of no confidence in the OPCW’s executive decision-making
body, the Executive Council. The vote, which did not have the power
to remove Bustani but served as a political marker, failed to muster
enough votes to pass.
Washington publicly made its case against Bustani in a March 1
paper. In addition to outlining financial criticisms, the paper
attacks Bustani’s demeanor and is peppered with complaints
about how he has run the OPCW, maintaining that Bustani’s conduct
has “seriously undermined the functioning and authority of
the Executive Council.” The paper adds that Bustani threatened
to conduct punitive inspections at industrial sites in five states
that had issued a demarche to him on financial and verification
issues.
Washington also maintains that Bustani advocated inappropriate
roles for the OPCW. As evidence, the paper says that the director-general
volunteered his organization’s inspectors, despite member states’
objections, to aid the UN agencies that had been or are currently
in charge of inspecting Iraqi chemical and biological weapons and
missile capabilities. It added that Bustani “continues to attempt
to impose the OPCW, and CWC limitations” on this UN Security
Council matter. It also complained about Bustani’s post-September
11 initiative to enhance the OPCW’s chemical terrorism-response
capabilities.
An OPCW paper circulated by Bustani to rebut these charges countered,
“Attempts to oust the Director-General of the OPCW seek to
establish a dangerous international precedent” where the job
security of heads of international organizations would depend on
the “attitude, whims, and perceptions of one, or a few, major
contributors to the budget.”
It is expected that Bustani’s replacement will come from Latin
America. Deputy Director-General John Gee will lead the OPCW until
states-parties meet in June to elect a new chief, according to the
OPCW official.
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