Chemical weapons and Sri Lanka

Lionel Fernando

Having had the opportunity to read a speech by the Minister of Industrial Development quoted in the daily papers on October 16, 2007,I find it fitting to pen a few ideas and my comments regarding the race for the production of Chemical Weapons and the measures taken globally to destroy the ever increasing such small weapons in the world.

The Minister quite rightly in his discourse touched upon the prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, use of Chemical weapons and their final destruction.

Genesis of the efforts to achieve chemical disarmament can be traced to over a century. History tells us that toxic chemicals have been used as a method of warfare throughout the ages.

However, the earliest efforts to take cognisance of the efficacy of the Weapons of Mass Destruction as recorded in the 20th century is rooted in the Hague Peace Conference. Parties to the 1899 Hague convention declared their agreement for "the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases".

Though the intentions of the participants to the contract were good and well meaning, however, they also proved futile. The Hague Conference prohibited the use of poisoned weapons.

Nevertheless Chemical weapons came to be used on a massive scale during World War I and resulted in more than 100,000 people dead and a million casualties. This state of affairs prompted the evolution of the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

These instruments were designed to be fully effective or mandatory against the use of Chemical weapons, they were binding only between the contracting parties or states themselves and many states reserved the right to retaliate in kind to a chemical attack which again justified the continued development and stockpiling of Chemical weapons. Furthermore no regime was specified for verifying that states abided by the obligations undertaken in those instruments already agreed upon.

Till the beginning of the Second World War even many developed countries spent considerable resources for the development of Chemical weapons particularly in the discovery of powerful nerve gases.

Thus they renewed interest in the field of weapons of mass destruction during the period between the First and Second World War. All major powers who were involved, anticipated that large scale chemical warfare naturally would take place as a result of the intensive keenness shown in the development of such lethal weapons.

However, most unpredictably and strange enough contrary to expectations Chemical Weapons were never used in Europe in World War II. Whether moral issues prevented such a step being taken amongst warring nations or fear of retaliation deterred the development and production of such Chemical weapons for the Second World War is not known.

In 1968 Sweden included both Chemical and Biological weapons disarmament as subjects of consideration on the agenda of the multilateral Geneva Disarmament Conference. In 1969 U.K. tabled a draft Biological Weapons Disarmament Treaty.

The Draft Biological Weapons Convention was agreed upon in the Disarmament Conference and was endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly. Three years later the Treaty having been signed entered into force in 1975.

This was a great leap forward in the commitment to achieve a Chemical weapons ban and an epoch making break through in the Destruction of weapons of Mass Destruction.

The most significant factor in the Swedish sponsored Eighteen Nations Disarmament Conference was that USA/USSR chaired this committee signifying the two super powers agreeing to begin addressing the subject as never before.

This naturally was a milestone on the path to Disarmament and final Destruction of Chemical weapons. 1970s saw the announcement of a joint US-Sweden working group being setup to discuss the same issues which eventually formed the basis of the Chemical Weapon Convention.

This necessitated the establishment of a mechanism such as a Conference or a Convention of all States Parties and a Secretariat to oversee the implementation of the Treaty and get a strong verification regime going.

By 1984 there has been a significant development in the elaboration of the Draft Convention. The USA submitted a new draft which proposed intrusive verification measures including mandatory challenge inspections.

This phase found a new impetus when the Secretary General of United Nations announced that Chemical weapons had been used by Iraq in its war against Iran.

Photographs of a chemical attack on civilians in Northern Iraq in March 1988 were widely published in the media. The international community reacted vehemently against this most repugnant act of using Chemical weapons on a civil population.

This spearheaded reactivation of negotiations within the Conference on Disarmament. The U.S. position at the UN General Assembly was that, rather than a total verification "U.S. would seek a level of verification that gives confidence to go forward", USSR/USA also signed a Bilateral Agreement on Chemical weapons and both undertook not to produce chemical weapons, but reduce their stocks of such weapons to 20 per cent of current holdings and to begin destruction in 2002.

Though this was a far reaching target nevertheless both parties marked a willingness to work together to eliminate this class of weaponry.

In the meantime other issues for social well-being of the world emerged. Arab world turned towards the development of nuclear disarmament linked to chemical disarmament. Developing countries were generally concerned about whether the convention would carry any benefits for them.

The Convention on the Prohibition of development, production, stockpiling and use of Chemical weapons and on their disarmament entered into force on the April 29, 1997.

With the signature of the Convention taking effect in 1997 and with fundamental obligations of State Parties to the Convention as set out in the very first Article each State party undertakes never under any circumstances to develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain Chemical weapons or transfer directly or indirectly Chemical weapons to anyone, engage in any military preparations to use Chemical weapons, assist, or induce anyway or any one to engage in any activity prohibited to State Parties under the said Convention.

Each State Party undertakes to destroy all Chemical weapons and all facilities which helped production of Chemical Weapons it owns or possesses or located in any place under their jurisdiction or control and also to destroy all Chemical weapons that it abandoned on the territory of another State Party.

Chemical weapons are those weaponry which are toxic or poisonous or any efficacious material that could produce such poisonous weapons. Military hardware, equipment or devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm through such poisonous properties which could be released as a result of employment of such munitions.

However no restrictions were to be imposed on international agreements which would restrict or impede trade and the development and promotion of scientific and technology knowledge in the field of chemistry for international agreements, research, medical, pharmaceutical or for peaceful purposes.

One would of course begin to wonder whether there is no discrepancy in the ongoing instruments and treaties that understanding, cooperation and peaceful dialogue is promoted amongst nations whilst at the same time the interactive objective is to see and end to the last of the weapons of mass destruction.

Could not the world learn lessons from the history of 1980s in the use of chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war where 100,000 civil and military personnel including a vast amount of children were exposed to partial and permanent maiming and others killed.

By 2002, 147 States Parties joined the Convention and committed themselves to declare all their chemical weapon arsenals, destroy them including their future production facilities.

This naturally evinced a deep interest amongst the States Parties to the horror of themselves being challenged to be the keepers of such lethal weapons. By the end of 2002, the Prohibition of Chemical weapons had grown by 60 per cent since the entry into force of the Convention in April 1997 and so the keenness and enthusiasm to destroy as much weapons as they possessed.

For example in 2002 the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons verified the destruction of 650 m. tons of chemical weapons agents. Between 29.4.1997 and 31.12.2002, 7169 m. tons of chemical Weapons agents out of a declared total of 69869 metric tons were destroyed.

The Russian Federation having experienced delays in their destruction programme execution responded favourably to receive a verification team from the Hague and the writer had the opportunity to lead such a delegation in November 2002 to Gorny in the Russian Federation with the aim of programming out the destruction of the targeted stockpile by mid 2003 as required by the OPCW verification program for 2002-2003.

Knowing the horrors of the use of such weapons in the hands of a wrong party to a conflict on the one side and not being able to get the best benefits of the enabling domestic legislation in the event of such passage through the Parliament, Sri Lanka should be happy that a Bill is now before our own Legislature to embody the Sri Lanka Chemical Weapons Convention as an Act in our statute.

Our own draft Act too provides for the implementation of the preamble of the Hague Convention by stipulating Prohibition of the Development , Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical Weapons and on their destruction.

The Hague Convention having been signed by Sri Lanka on the 14th of April 1993 and ratified on the 19th August 1994 is obliged to make legislated provisions to give effect to Sri Lanka's obligations under the aforesaid Convention.

Once the enactment enters the Statute book the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention shall be established by the Minister for Industrial Development.

The Authority shall be the highest regulatory State organ for the control of all matters pertaining to the chemical weapon, such deleterious agents, precursors and then the promotion and fostering of positive aspects of development and use of chemical substances.

This is the only draft bill that will when comes into force shall act as a catalyst for the implementation of provisions in the Hague Convention as enunciated in our domestic legislation. Since 1983 the Government of Sri Lanka has been involved in the ethnic conflict with the LTTE.

And only the other day it was mentioned in the media that the LTTE has come into possession of this lethal weaponry.

If this were true then it is time that the Government take serious note as to whether we are in a position to take suitable action to prevent the LTTE from taking any drastic action with impunity in unleashing such toxic chemical.

Since there is no legal regime in vogue at present is imperative that the Act reaches the statute book as early as possible. Only then could the Chemical Authority could invoke the legal regime that could address any issues related to the misuse and abuse of chemical weapons.

In so far as positive aspects of toxic chemicals are concerned production, transfer and trade, is a global enterprise involved in peaceful purposes such as industrial, agricultural, medical and research.

Hence the measures taken by the Ministry of Industrial Development is laudable and can be a catalyst for the beneficial well being of the country and its people.

The founding fathers of the domestic legislation may take solace in the farsighted enunciation of the views of the States Parties in the preamble to the Hague Convention that achievements in the field of chemistry be used exclusively for the benefit of mankind.

This no doubt will enhance the economic and technological development of all States Parties through the promotion of free trade in chemicals as well as international cooperation and exchange of scientific information, which no doubt would open a new chapter in the field of chemistry for global peace and particularly for Sri Lanka which yearns for peace with dignity for all communities.

Writer as Ambassador for Sri Lanka was elected unanimously as Chairman of the Executive Council, of the OPCW for 2002-2003 by 135 States Parties at The Hague.

He served as High Commissioner in Malaysia and SL Foreign Secretary. Also he served as GA Jaffna and Trincomalee and Governor, NE Provinces. Presently he is co-chairman of the National Salaries Commission.