On November 5, 2024, the First Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution On the Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.
Among other things, the General Assembly recalls that Article 1, Paragraph 5, of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction provides that each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare, and in this context expresses grave concern about allegations of their use by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression against Ukraine and urges the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to continue to closely monitor the situation and be ready to investigate the matter as appropriate, notes the requests for clarification on this issue submitted under Article IX of the Convention and subsequent discussions in the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and recalls the technical assistance provided to Ukraine by the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation.
From November 25 to 29, 2024, the 29th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction will be held in The Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During the Conference, a vote will be held to elect members to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for the 2025-2027 term.
From the Eastern European group, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, and the aggressor state Russia have submitted their candidacies (three candidates for two seats on the Executive Council).
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, over 4,300 documented instances of Russia’s use of munitions containing hazardous chemicals, including chloropicrin and other poisonous substances, have been recorded from February 2023 to October 2024, in violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Russia must be held accountable through the mechanisms of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for employing chemical riot control agents as a method of warfare against Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces, rather than being selected for the Executive Council of this Organization.
A state (Russia) that violates the convention`s norms of an international organization should be deprived of its right to participate in its governing bodies.
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