Who has signed the
Chemical Weapons Convention
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said his country is ready to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and hand over all information on its chemical arsenal. If Syria signs the treaty, it would become the 190th country to join the international convention outlawing chemical weapons. Read related article.
The CWC is an international arms-control agreement that bans all production, stockpiling, retention, transfer and use of chemical agents as weapons. It was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in 1992 and entered into force in 1997. When a country signs the convention, it agrees not to use chemical weapons and to destroy all chemical weapons and production facilities, including those abandoned outside its territory.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is based in The Hague, acts as the implementing body of the CWC.
- Has not begun destroying arsenal
- In process of destroying arsenal
- Done destroying arsenal
- Not signed
- Signed but not ratified
Click for details
Ratified or agreed
Some states shown in blue and listed below are still in the process of destroying their weapons.
Signed but not ratified
Has not begun destroying arsenal
In process of destroying arsenal
Done destroying arsenal
SOURCES: Global Security Newswire, Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.