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PREVENTING the RE-EMERGENCE of CHEMICAL WEAPONS BRIEF / 3 Apr 2019

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PREVENTING the RE-EMERGENCE of CHEMICAL WEAPONS BRIEF / 3 Apr 2019 PREVENTING THE RE-EMERGENCE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS BRIEF / 3 Apr 2019 Part 1: the evolution of chemical weapon use since 1990 by Jean Pascal Zanders Independent disarmament and security researcher, The Trench. INTRODUCTION Summary › The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Since the Third Review Conference (8–19 April 2013), is the most successful weapon control treaty the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical ever with 193 states adhering to it. Weapons (OPCW), the body overseeing the implemen- tation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), › However, recent incidents of chemical has had to confront growing evidence of chemical war- weapon (CW) use in the Syrian civil war and fare in the Syrian civil war. Syria became a party to the as tools of assassination or terrorism chal- CWC in October 2013, but investigators have repeatedly lenge the CWC. confirmed chemical weapon (CW) use by government › Negotiated with large-scale international forces and some chemical attacks by non-state actors. chemical warfare and huge military stocks In March 2018, an assassination attempt with an un- of CW in mind, the small volumes of agent common nerve agent in the United Kingdom, for which that now make up CW use and preparations the British government accuses Russia, poses a com- pose a challenge to the CWC. pletely different challenge to the CWC’s future. These issues in combination with deteriorating international › Geopolitical interests mean that the pro- security cooperation have fractured consensus among cedures for investigating allegations of CW states parties. have become controversial, even though all parties to the CWC have approved them. On 21–30 November 2018, the OPCW met for its Fourth › Notwithstanding, the threat posed by CW Review Conference. Normally held every five years, has shrunk considerably since the Cold War review conferences assess the general health of the as a consequence of internationally super- agreement, examine the status of execution of obli- vised weapon elimination. JEAN PASCAL ZANDERS gations on both the international and national levels, in the process building up combined stockpiles possi- and lay out future policy directions and priorities. This bly in excess of 150-200,000 mt of agent in the final time, a two-day regular session of the annual Confer- decade of the Cold War. FIGURE CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE ence of States Parties preceded the Review Conference (19–20 November) to adopt the work programme and Use of CW in support of military campaigns became budget for 2019. The Fourth Review Conference failed relatively rare. Almost all major incidents occurred in EY RUSSIA because deep divisions over how to address the vari- the Middle East, starting with Egypt’s chemical bom- 2018 CONFLICT Assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal ous allegations of CW use precluded consensus deci- bardments in the Yemen civil war during the 1960s. PERPETRATOR length of use and his daughter with a Novichok nerve agent star sion-making. The Iran-Iraq War witnessed CW deployed on a scale description NORTH OREA 2017 not seen since the First World War. It was also the first Assassination of Kim Jong−nam in Malaysia with VX nerve agent This Brief is the first of a triptych on the ways the in- conflict during which saw nerve agents used on the ternational community has responded to the new battlefield and CW-supported combat operations em- ASSASSINATION developments to preserve and strengthen the norm ployed with genocidal intent against a country’s own against CW use. It first offers a short historical over- population. In the 1960s and 1970s, US forces utilised DAESH 2014 view of chemical warfare, followed by a review of re- lachrymatory and anti-plant agents during the almost Chlorine and mustard agent attacks in Syria and Iraq surgent use of toxic agents. It next introduces the CWC. fifteen-year intervention in Indochina. Most recently, AL−QAEDA 2006 A discussion of the challenges the new-found utility the Syrian civil war since 2011 saw the first confirmed Suicide attacks with chlorine-filled lorries in Iraq of such agents pose to the convention concludes the CW attacks since the entry into force of the CWC in 1997. AUM SHINRIYO Brief. Part 2 of the triptych investigates the interna- 1995 Sarin release in the Tokyo underground system tional responses to CW use over the past five years and AUM SHINRIYO the controversies they have spawned. Part 3 focuses on 1994 EU responses to violations of the norm against poi- NEW USES OF CW Sarin release in Matsumoto, Japan son weapons and the roles played by EU sanctions in TERRORISM particular. Since the CWC’s opening for signature in 1993, there have been several incidents exploiting the toxic prop- RUSSIAN SPECIAL FORCES erties of chemicals to harm humans. They include acts 2002 Incapacitant used against Chechen hostage takers of terrorism, as well as targeted assassination and ex- during Moscow theatre siege A SHORT HISTORY OF ecutions. Toxic chemicals also reappeared in warfare COUNTER−TERRORISM with both state and non-state actors resorting to them. CHEMICAL WARFARE While some incidents retained certain characteristics ST GULF WAR 1982 of past warfare scenarios, the substances also began to Iraqi use against Kurds Modern chemical warfare began during the First World serve different purposes. Finally, actors have not relied VIETNAM SYRIAN CIVIL WAR War. In an attempt to restore mobility to a stalemat- on traditional warfare agents in all incidents; rather 1965 2013 US use of lachrymatory agents in counter−insurgency operations ed Western Front, Imperial German forces released they have turned to commercially or industrially avail- YEMEN CIVIL WAR around 160 metric tonnes (mt) of chlorine against al- able toxicants in support of their goals. Several inci- 1963 lied lines near the Belgian town of Ypres on 22 April dents also combine the characteristics of the different Repeated Egyptian use, first in 1963 and resumed in 1966 1915. It was the moment when science, industry and new uses of CW. VIETNAM 1962 military art converged with the purpose of designing Operation Ranch Hand: US spraying of defoliants, including Agent Orange and further developing a novel weapon. Over the next CIVIL WAR three years, all major belligerents researched a widen- Terrorism with chemical weapons ing variety of toxic compounds and deployed them in While terrorists are known to have had a long-stand- ETHIOPIA increasing volumes to the battlefronts. 1935 ing interest in poisonous substances, incidents have Repeated Italian use remained far and few between.1 Most cases concern in- No war after the Armistice in 1918 would see similar CYRENAICA LIBYA) terest in and discovery of literature on manufacturing 1923 quantities of agent consumed again. While CW was Intermittent Italian use in 1923 poison agents, and attempts at synthesis or extraction. and between 1928−1932 still used in colonial and international armed conflicts RIF WAR (new doctrines involving air power were being consid- The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo synthesised sarin 1922 ered and a new category of nerve agents was discov- Spanish and French use and used it in two indiscriminate attacks. The first one against Berbers in Morocco ered while researching insecticides in the late 1930s), in the town of Matsumoto in June 1994 was directed COLONIAL WAR Europe was spared the horrors of generalised chemi- against judges who were on the verge of ruling against cal warfare in the Second World War –even though the the cult in a land dispute. Eight citizens died, while SECOND WORLD WAR Nazi extermination camps murdered humans on an 1937 several hundred suffered exposure to the nerve agent. industrial scale with hydrogen cyanide as part of the Japan in China The second one took place in the Tokyo underground Holocaust and Japan launched multiple CW attacks FIRST WORLD WAR ST GULF WAR in March 1995. A diversionary attack designed to pre- 1915 1982 against Chinese cities and positions. Western and Iraqi use against Iran vent the police from raiding Aum Shinrikyo’s premises Eastern fronts killed 13 people, injured over one thousand, and left INTERNATIONAL WAR After 1945, the threat of chemical warfare was over- several thousand people suffering from psychological 1900 1950 2000 shadowed by the spectre of the nuclear bomb. Nev- problems and post-traumatic stress disorder. Fortu- 1925 1993 1997 ertheless, the US and the USSR continued to develop Geneva Protocol banning CW use CWC opened for signature CWC enters into force nately, the cult’s original goal of manufacturing 80 mt agents and delivery systems, as well as CW defences, 2 PREVENTING THE RE-EMERGENCE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS | PArt 1: THE EVOLUTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPON USE SINCE 1990 FIGURE CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE RUSSIA EY 2018 CONFLICT Assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal PERPETRATOR length of use and his daughter with a Novichok nerve agent star description NORTH OREA 2017 Assassination of Kim Jong−nam in Malaysia with VX nerve agent ASSASSINATION DAESH 2014 Chlorine and mustard agent attacks in Syria and Iraq AL−QAEDA 2006 Suicide attacks with chlorine-filled lorries in Iraq AUM SHINRIYO 1995 Sarin release in the Tokyo underground system AUM SHINRIYO 1994 Sarin release in Matsumoto, Japan TERRORISM RUSSIAN SPECIAL FORCES 2002 Incapacitant used against Chechen hostage takers during Moscow theatre siege COUNTER−TERRORISM ST GULF WAR 1982 Iraqi use against Kurds VIETNAM SYRIAN CIVIL WAR 1965 2013 US use of lachrymatory agents in counter−insurgency operations YEMEN CIVIL WAR 1963 Repeated Egyptian use, first in 1963 and resumed in 1966 VIETNAM 1962 Operation Ranch Hand: US spraying of defoliants, including Agent Orange CIVIL WAR ETHIOPIA 1935 Repeated Italian use CYRENAICA LIBYA) 1923 Intermittent Italian use in 1923 and between 1928−1932 RIF WAR 1922 Spanish and French use against Berbers in Morocco COLONIAL WAR SECOND WORLD WAR 1937 Japan in China FIRST WORLD WAR ST GULF WAR 1915 1982 Western and Iraqi use against Iran Eastern fronts INTERNATIONAL WAR 1900 1950 2000 1925 1993 1997 Geneva Protocol banning CW use CWC opened for signature CWC enters into force 3 JEAN PASCAL ZANDERS of sarin in an effort to destabilise the Japanese govern- Military use of CW in the Syrian civil ment never materialised.
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