UN Urges Juba to Ratify Chemical Weapons Treaty

The United Nations has urged South Sudan, one of the eight countries not party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to ensure it ratifies the treaty “without delay”.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General and Ahmet Üzümcü, the Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) made the call Tuesday, in a joint communication to heads of states.

The CWC is an arms control agreement, which outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons.

The agreement is administered by the OPCW, an independent organization based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Both leaders, in letters, addressed to representatives of the eight countries, reportedly underscore the importance of achieving the universality of the Convention as a condition necessary to attain a world free from chemical weapons.

“The continuing growth in the membership of the (OPCW)… is evidence that the prohibition against the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons constitutes a universal norm,” the letter reads in part.

ST