SRES 525 IS
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 525
Recognizing the progress made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention on the occasion of the Second Review Conference.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 22, 2008
Mr. BIDEN (for himself and Mr. LUGAR) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the progress made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention on the occasion of the Second Review Conference.
Whereas, on April 24, 1997, the Senate gave its advice and consent to the ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, with Annexes, done at Paris January 13, 1993 (commonly known as the `Chemical Weapons Convention' and the `CWC') (T. Doc. 103-21);
Whereas, the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on April 29, 1997;
Whereas, since the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force, more than 27,000 metric tons of chemical weapons have been destroyed, representing over 35 percent of the declared chemical weapon stockpiles worldwide;
Whereas 11 chemical weapons destruction facilities are currently in operation in 5 countries;
Whereas none of the 65 chemical weapons production facilities declared by 12 States Parties are producing chemical weapons, and all but 4 of the facilities have been either verifiably destroyed or converted for peaceful purposes in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention;
Whereas, on July 11, 2007, Albania became the first State Party to completely eliminate its entire stockpile of chemical weapons, with assistance from the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program;
Whereas membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons now stands at 183 states, encompassing 98 percent of the world's population, up from 87 States Parties when the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force;
Whereas the First Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention was opened on April 28, 2003, and 113 States Parties participated in the First Review Conference; and
Whereas the Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention opened on April 7, 2008, in The Hague, Netherlands: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) reaffirms its support for the purposes, operations, and undertakings of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which have served the interests of international peace and security and the national security interests of the United States;
(2) notes the progress that has been made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention toward the elimination of stockpiles of deadly chemical weapons in possessor states, and urges continued progress toward that goal;
(3) calls on all States Parties--
(A) to continue their compliance with their obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention to permit the monitoring and verification of the inactivation, and later destruction or conversion, of all chemical weapons production facilities, as well as the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles;
(B) to submit and allow verification of the consistency of industrial chemical declarations; and
(C) to allow the effective monitoring of the non-diversion of chemicals for activities prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention; and
(4) calls on all States Parties to adopt the necessary laws, regulations, and enforcement practices to ban chemical weapons activities, pursuant to Article VIII of the Chemical Weapons Convention and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004), and to afford appropriate legal and regulatory assistance to other countries so as to achieve full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
U.S. Congress - Text of S.Res.525 as Introduced in Senate A resolution recognizing the progress made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Co...
