PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
UN: Ban urges six countries to ratify chemical weapons convention
New York US (PANA) - Marking the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN General Assembly President John Ashe on Tuesday urged the six reticent member states to sign and/or ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention which aims to eliminate an entire category of weapons of mass destruction.
A UN statement in New York, quoted Ban as saying: "Until membership is universal and the last stockpiles of chemical weapons are destroyed, our work will not be done."
He urged Angola, Egypt, Israel, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan to live up to expectations by ratifying the convention.
Mr. Ashe echoed Ban’s tribute to the victims, adding that chemical weapons had no place in our world.
The Assembly president said that the international community’s commitment to eliminating the threat of chemical weapons strengthened one of the core missions of the UN, which was the promotion of peace, security and stability worldwide.
Observed annually on 29 April, the Day commemorates the date in 1997 on which the Convention entered into force.
The treaty prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by States parties.
This year’s observance comes just days after the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the UN announced that 92.5 per cent of Syria’s chemical weapons programme had been either removed or destroyed.
In the past year, Syria and Somalia joined the Convention, raising its membership to 190 States.
-0- PANA AA/MA 29April2014
A UN statement in New York, quoted Ban as saying: "Until membership is universal and the last stockpiles of chemical weapons are destroyed, our work will not be done."
He urged Angola, Egypt, Israel, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar and South Sudan to live up to expectations by ratifying the convention.
Mr. Ashe echoed Ban’s tribute to the victims, adding that chemical weapons had no place in our world.
The Assembly president said that the international community’s commitment to eliminating the threat of chemical weapons strengthened one of the core missions of the UN, which was the promotion of peace, security and stability worldwide.
Observed annually on 29 April, the Day commemorates the date in 1997 on which the Convention entered into force.
The treaty prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons by States parties.
This year’s observance comes just days after the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the UN announced that 92.5 per cent of Syria’s chemical weapons programme had been either removed or destroyed.
In the past year, Syria and Somalia joined the Convention, raising its membership to 190 States.
-0- PANA AA/MA 29April2014
