States not parties to Chemical Weapons Convention urged top join without delay
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Ban with OPCW Director-General at high-level meeting at UN headquarters in October ’12
Governments of those States that are not yet parties to the Chemical Weapons convention have been sent letters underscoring the importance of achieving the universality of the Convention as a condition necessary to attain a world free from chemical weapons.
The letters, from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, strongly urge those eight States to join the Convention "without delay." Word of this development comes from UN Deputy Spokesperson Eduardo De Buey.
"The Convention currently has 188 States Party leaving only Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan and Syria as the States that remain outside the treaty."
The letter states that "the continuing growth in the membership of the Chemical Weapons Convention… is evidence that the prohibition against the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, constitutes a universal norm."
It also calls for the respective governments to undertake a commitment to the legally-binding prohibition against chemical weapons in order to consolidate those norms and to ensure that such weapons are never used again.
Achieving universality of the Convention is a priority goal of both the OPCW and the United Nations.
Donn Bobb, United Nations.
Duration: 1'18"
