Also problematic was the fact that many States that ratified the Protocol reserved the right to use prohibited weapons against States that were not party to the Protocol or as retaliation in kind if chemical weapons were used against them. Poison gasses were used during World War II in Nazi concentration camps and in Asia, although chemical weapons were not used on European battlefields. The Cold War period saw significant development, manufacture and stockpiling of chemical weapons.
By the s and 80s, an estimated 25 States were developing chemical weapons capabilities. But since the end of World War II, chemical weapons have reportedly been used in only a few cases, notably by Iraq in the s against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The CWC is the first disarmament agreement negotiated within a multilateral framework that provides for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction under universally applied international control.
In order to prepare for the entry-into-force of the CWC, a Preparatory Commission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons OPCW was established with the responsibility to prepare detailed operation procedures and to put into place the necessary infrastructure for the permanent implementing agency provided for in the Convention.
Instead of announcing its presence in a yellow-green cloud, phosgene is colorless and takes its time to kill. The Germans were the first to use phosgene in battle, but the Allies made it their primary chemical weapon later in the war.
Mustard gas was an entirely new kind of killer chemical. Even if soldiers wore gas masks to protect their lungs, mustard gas would seep into their woolen uniforms and even burn through the soles of their boots, says Dorsey.
By June , the Allies were employing mustard gas as a last-ditch effort to break the stalemate at Ypres. A young Adolf Hitler was among the German troops injured and temporarily blinded by those attacks.
In the immediate aftermath of World War I, as nations mourned the deaths of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians, most military leaders accepted that chemical weapons would continue to be part of the new barbarity of warfare. But that sentiment was countered by a growing antiwar movement that pushed for arms control treaties and greater diplomacy.
In , the League of Nations adopted the Geneva Protocol , which prohibited the use of chemical and biological agents in war, but did not stop nations from continuing to develop and stockpile such weapons. During World War II , Nazi Germany killed millions of Concentration Camp victims in gas chambers pumped full of carbon monoxide or the pesticide Zyklon B, but decided against deploying a new class of nerve gases in battle for fear of Allied retaliation.
China has also accused Imperial Japan of firing artillery packed with mustard gas and other blistering agents during World War II. The current ban on chemical weapons was signed into international law by two conventions in and But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
Learn more. I accept. Toggle navigation Donate. Search Search. Chemical and biological weapons The international community banned the use of chemical and biological weapons after World War 1 and reinforced the ban in and by prohibiting their development, stockpiling and transfer.
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