Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen believes the destruction of chemical weapons can and should be speeded up. His comments came on the eve of this week's meeting of the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague.
The 183 countries which have signed up to the Chemical Weapons Convention meet every five years in The Hague. The treaty is unique, not only in that it forbids a whole category of weapons of mass destruction but also because it enforces intensive inspections to ensure that countries are not secretly manufacturing the chemical agents.
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The Chemical Weapons Convention was established in 1993 and entered into force in 1997. It forbids the production and possession of chemical weapons. Existing stockpiles must be destroyed or made harmless by 2012, and all the signatory countries must allow OPCW inspections of chemical plants.
Middle East
The OPCW's first priority is ensuring that all countries sign up to the convention. The Middle East is considered a 'black hole' as far as chemical weapons are concerned. At the outset of negotiations on a treaty in the 1970s and 1980s, most Arab nations were clear that they would not renounce chemical weapons as long as Israel's nuclear arsenal stayed intact.
Balance
Chemical weapons were seen as the only way to maintain a strategic balance in the region. Israel has signed the convention but has not yet ratified it, and so is not bound to comply with the treaty.
 Rogelio Pfirter |
Iraq and Lebanon are expected to add their names to the convention at this week's meeting in The Hague, and the development should ensure some movement in the present impasse.
However, real breakthroughs, such as Syria or Egypt signing up to the treaty, or its ratification by Israel, are not on the cards. OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter:
"The situation in other Middle Eastern countries, especially Egypt, Israel and Syria, is different. We have no indications that these countries will be able to reach agreement."
Expensive and difficult
Another urgent question which will be on the convention's agenda this week is whether all chemical-weapons arsenals can actually be destroyed by 2012. Making stockpiles of old chemical weapons safe is more difficult and more expensive than it was to produce them.
The United States and Russia are by far the biggest former chemical-weapons powers, and they, in particular, are struggling with the high costs and complicated safety problems involved in the destruction of the chemical agents.
The only country to have got rid of all its chemical stockpiles so far is Albania. Less than 40 percent of the world's arsenals of over 70 metric tonnes of chemical agents has been destroyed.
*RNW translation (mw)
Tags: Chemical warfare, Chemical weapons, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Maxime Verhagen , OPCW, Syria, The Hague