Israel 'must ratify weapons ban'

5 September 2007

By Barbara Bibbo'

Doha: Participants in an international forum on chemical warfare called on states in the region to sign and ratify a chemical weapons ban that would avert a chemical weapons race in the Middle East.

An Iranian delegate said some countries could try to acquire chemical weapons if Israel does not ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of which the Jewish state is only a signatory.

"Israel has nuclear and chemical weapons... The Middle East will not be secure and chemical weapons-free until Israel ratifies the Convention," said Samad Lakizadeh, deputy secretary of the National Authority for the Convention on Chemical Weapons.

Lakizadeh was addressing journalists at the regional meeting of Asian member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Lakizadeh said the international weapons ban, which Iran has ratified, will become successful only when states with chemical weapons join it.

Weapons race

"Other countries in the region may try to acquire chemical weapons if Israel does not join and this will lead to a chemical weapons race," he said.

The signing of the Convention expresses a country's political support to the ban. However, ratification opens the way to the destruction of stockpiles, non-proliferation commitments and inspections.

In ten years the CWC has attracted 182 member states. Six countries including Israel and the Dominican Republic have signed the Convention but have not ratified it. Seven states worldwide have not taken any action on the Convention, they include Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. All the Gulf countries have ratified it.

"It is of paramount importance that the countries that remain outside the jurisdiction of the CWC join as a matter of urgency to ensure a global chemical weapons ban and to benefit from the security and economic advantages that membership to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons grants," said a statement issued by the organisation.

Addressing the forum, Kalimi Mugambi Mworia, who spoke on behalf of the OPCW's secretary-general, said the signing, ratification and fully fledged implementation of the Convention's principles is essential to grant peace and stability worldwide.

She called on member states in the region to encourage non-signatory states to adhere.

182 nations have joined organisation

- 182 nations, representing about 98 per cent of the global population, have joined the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

- 100 per cent of the declared chemical weapons production facilities have been inactivated and-100 per cent of the declared stockpiles have been inventoried and verified.

-One-third of the 8.6 million chemical munitions and containers covered by the Convention have also been verifiably destroyed.

- Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons