Biological and chemical weapons

The threat to international peace and security posed by chemical and biological weapons has been a preoccupation of the international community for a long time. Persistent endeavours resulted in the conclusion of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) — the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) — and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) — the first such treaty to be negotiated entirely within a multilateral disarmament forum, the Conference on Disarmament (CD). Ever since the two conventions were opened for signature in 1972 and 1993 respectively, the United Nations has sought to promote the universality of the two instruments, as well as compliance with their provisions. In addition, States have continued to reaffirm the necessity of upholding the principles and objectives of the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

Related Subject(s): Disarmament