The Chemical Weapons Convention: Particular Concerns of Developing Countries

Abstract

The International Community, as represented in the Paris Conference held in January 1989, has stressed the necessity of concluding at an early date a convention for a total ban on chemical weapons. It called on the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva to redouble its efforts, as a matter of urgency, to resolve expeditiously the remaining issues, and to conclude the Convention at the earliest date. The current period of global confidence-building, in particular between the two superpowers which had led the way to the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and the acceptance by the Soviet Union of mandatory onsite challenge inspection within 48 hours as a verification measure in the CW Convention, should remove the major obstacles which have been delaying reaching an agreement.