Chemical Weapon In English | Latest Burning Issue

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control treaty that outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons.
The full name of the treaty is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction and it is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW)

ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS

- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on 29 April 1997.
- The organisation is not an agency of the United Nations, but cooperates both on policy and practical issues. • On 7 September 2000 the OPCW and the United Nations signed a cooperation agreement outlining how they were to coordinate their activities.
- The OPCW has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands, and oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons.
- Only four countries, including Israel, have yet to sign up to the CWC, which aims to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. Key points of the Convention
- Prohibition of production and use of chemical weapons
- Destruction (or monitored conversion to other functions) of chemical weapons production facilities
- Destruction of all chemical weapons (including chemical weapons abandoned outside the state parties territory)
- Assistance between State Parties and the OPCW in the case of use of chemical weapons
- An OPCW inspection regime for the production of chemicals which might be converted to chemical weapons
- International cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry in relevant areas
- The Chemical Weapons Convention Act was enacted in 2000 to give effect to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction signed by the government on January 14, 1993.
- The Act defines chemical weapons and empowers the Centre to set up a National Authority to act as the “national focal point” for effective liaison with organisations and other state parties on matters relating to the Convention and for fulfilling the obligations of the country.
- The Act defines chemical weapons as toxic chemicals, including munitions and devices, specifically designed to cause death or other harm.
- The definition includes in its ambit “any equipment” specifically designed for employing chemical weapons
In order to fulfill its obligations under the CWC, India established the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention (NA CWC) on 29 April 1997 as an office in the Indian Cabinet Secretariat.
serves as the primary liaison to the OPCW.
The Authority’s functions include regulation and monitoring the development, production, processing, consumption, transfer or use of toxic chemicals or precursors as specified in the Convention, among others.
The Authority is also empowered to issue directions and even close down facilities which violate the Convention.
It can liaise with other countries to seek or give assistance and protection against the use of chemical weapons
Section 19 of the Act gives full power of inspection of any person who is engaged in the production, processing, acquisition, consumption, transfer, import, export or use of any toxic chemical or discrete organic chemical.
Inspections extend to any place where any chemical weapon, old chemical weapon, is located, or where a chemical weapon production facility exists.
In 2010, the Act was amended to widen the scope of Section 9 to give the Centre power to appoint any of its own officers, other than those of the National Authority, as enforcement officers.