Chemical Weapons and Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

A chemical weapon uses toxic chemicals to cause harm or death. The Chemical weapons may be in the form of liquid, gas or even solids; may be lethal or non-lethal. Nerve agents, vesicants (blister agents), tear gas, pepper spray etc. are some of the major types of chemical weapons. Of these, nerve agents are most dangerous and legal. Mustard Gas is one of the nerve agents used widely in World War-I. The tear Gas (also known as CS Gas) and pepper spray are most commonly used non-lethal chemical weapons. The Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction along with nuclear and biological, thus making the dreaded NBC {Nuclear, Biological, Chemical} trinity. Internationally, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) treaty outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors.

Questions & Answers

What was the extent of use of Chemical Weapons in the First World War? How the use of Chemical Weapons in WW-I affected the future course of history?

World War-I is known for the first large scale use of chemical weapons. In this war, different kinds of weapons were used ranging from tear gas to legal gases such as phosgene, chlorine and mustard gas. Though it caused only 90 thousand of total 1.2 million causalities in the war, yet the WW-I was called the “chemists’ war” due to widespread use of the chemical weapons. The countries which used poison gases were in violation of the Hague Declaration Concerning Asphyxiating Gases, 1899 and the Hague Convention on Land Warfare, 1907. The first large scale use of chemical weapons in WW-I was by Germany, which fired 18000 artillery shells comprising liquid xylil bromide tear has on Russians in 1915. However, this could not cause much causality. Germany subsequently used Chlorine attack killing several English officers and soldiers. British responded by developing its own gas warfare capability. More deadly gases were used later on by Germany. Mustard Gas was most widely weapon used in WW-I by Germany.

By the end of the WW-I, the chemical weapons lost their effectiveness due to training and equipments of the forces. The public opinion turned against the use of Chemical Weapons and this led to Geneva Protocol signed by World War combatants in 1925. This convention banned the “use” {not stockpiling} of the legal gases and biological weapons.  In the WW-II, most of the combatants had stockpiled the chemical weapons but none of them used them except Japan, which used small amount of Mustard Gas in China. For many years, the Chemical Weapons were not used on large scale after WW-II. However, the Iran-Iraq War in 1980s saw again the use of mustard gas and other deadly nerve agents by Iraq, causing 20 thousand deaths in Iranian troops.  The implications were as follows:

• Due to widespread use of poison gases by Germany, most belligerents developed not only capacity to deal with the chemical weapons but also their own stocks of such weapons.
• Children were taught in schools about how to survive in a gas attack – such as wearing gas masks and so on.
• The most heinous use of Poison gas was in Holocaust in Germany by Nazi.

The Geneva Convention of 1925 did not say anything on storage of chemical weapons, so was problematic. The stockpiling of the Chemical weapons was later covered by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

What does Chemical Weapons Convention do? What is its membership status and issues around it?

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is the legally binding international Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons. As of now, this convention has 192 member states. Israel has signed it but not ratified it. Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan have neither signed nor acceded to this treaty. Syria became a party to the CWC only in September 2013 as a part of an agreement for destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons. Once a country accedes to the treaty, it is obliged for prohibition of use and production of chemical weapons, as well as the destruction of all chemical weapons. This convention also has provisions for systematic evaluation of chemical and military plants and investigations in matters related to chemical weapons.

About India’s membership to CWC:

India had signed the CWC in January 1993 and ratified later. It came into force in 1997. Once ratified, India needed to make provisions in domestic laws to give it effect. Towards this, the Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000 was enacted. This act is applicable to all citizens of India whether resident or non-resident and associates, branches, subsidiaries of Indian companies, whether domestic or non-domestic. India also destroyed its chemical weapons as part of its commitment to this treaty. The CWC act, 2000 provides for a National Authority on CWC to follow various provisions of the international treaty. This national authority works under Cabinet Secretariat. Under current provisions of the act, it is illegal for any person to transfer or receive toxic chemicals from someone who is not a citizen of a state member of CWC.

Various issues around CWC

As per Geneva Convention, use of Chemical Weapons is a war crime. But there are several problems with this. First, not all countries are signatories to CWC, so question arises if the countries (such as North Korea, if it uses) would be brought under justice. Second, what exactly constitutes a chemical weapon is a grey area, for example, in many nations see White Phosphorus as a chemical weapon but US does not do so. Thirdly, there is an argument over deterrence of the Chemical weapons. For example, a country may not use it but will still stockpile it to deter others (United States did that till 2012 for that reason only).

Why the Chemical and biological weapons are considered worse than nuclear bombs or advanced weapons?

Generally, the lethal chemical weapons {C} are put in same category as Biological {B}  and Nuclear {N} weapons and all of them {NBC trinity} are called Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, there are several reasons as to why the Chemical and Biological weapons are considered worse than the nuclear bombs or advanced weapons mainly because of problem of their detection. In conventional weapons, the impacts are localized and can be detected. The chemical weapons are generally invisible gases harder to detect. They causes harm downwind to everyone who comes across be it human or animal. Same is true for biological weapons also, which are much worse because of their ability to self-sustain.

Discuss the geopolitics around recent Chemical Weapons Attacks in Syria.

Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War was first carried out in March 2013 (Aleppo) and August 2013 (Ghouta). By that time, Syria was not even a signatory to the CWC. In these attacks, Sarin or Sarin like chemicals were used. Despite of the disarmament process, there were dozens of attacks, many of them very recent. Both Sarin and VX used in Syria attack the nervous system while Mustard Gas burns the skin (blister agent).

Geopolitics

The first question was that who did these attacks. While nobody comes forward to take responsibility, the Syrian government / Ba’athist Party was seen as main suspect due to large stockpile of such weapons with the government. At the same time, the Syrian opposition, neighboring countries, ISIS etc. were also alleged / suspected behind the attacks. This  entire episode seems to have been converted into a concerted disinformation, but there are more evidences against Assad than anybody else. We note that government of Syria was in possession of the Chemical reasons for two reasons viz. deterrence and terror. Deterrence was the reason that it got / produced the weapons but Terror was what for they were used in last few years against their own people. It is alleged that the chemical weapons programme of Syria is decades old and the Syrian forces had amassed a huge supply of nerve and blister agents mounted on missiles capable of reaching to all neighboring countries. It is also claimed that Putin / Russia supports Assad and is standing behind it despite of these attacks. In fact, the western media insists that the attacks were intentional, done by the government. At the same time, Syria maintained that its air forces bombed the terrorist’s warehouses where they kept the poisionous gases. Thus, nothing is clear on who did these attacks and for what purpose.