Chemical Weapons Convention is an international agreement to ban the production and use of chemical weapons. Nations that officially accept the treaty must agree not to produce, possess, or engage in the trade or use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons are chemical agents used to injure or kill people.
The official name of the treaty is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. The treaty went into effect in 1997. By 2018, 193 countries had formally approved it, fully accepting its terms and obligations.
The agreement is complex because many of the components used for chemical weapons also are used for peaceful purposes, such as making pesticides. The treaty allows international inspection teams to enter a country and inspect all chemical-industry facilities that handle or make certain chemicals. The treaty tries to regulate and control the production and use of many chemicals without imposing excessive costs on the chemical industry.
The treaty created a monitoring body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), that carries out the terms of the agreement, including organizing the inspection teams. Most nations with large chemical industries have seats on the organization’s executive council. The OPCW has investigated suspected uses of banned chemicals, and provided assistance with the destruction of chemical weapons. In 2013, the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize for its “extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.”
