INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Author: Norka M.  Schell, International Law Lawyer

Tel. (212)564-1589

Website: www.lawschell.com

As the Congress is getting ready to debate whether it is in the United States national interest to military strike against Syria in response to a chemical attack that it says killed more than 1,400 Syrians, many people whether the intervention is based on international law.

The international community banned the use of chemical and biological weapons after the World War I, in 1972, and again in 1993 by prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling and transfer of chemical and biological weapons.

For centuries there have been taboos against chemical weapons, but the use of poisonous gas  in World War I led to the first international law – the 1925 Geneva Protocol – banning as asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and bacteriological methods of warfare.

The Protocol has been followed by most countries since 1925, and it became a landmark in international humanitarian law. Further legal instruments followed in the form of Conventions adopted by States in 1972 and 1993.

The 1972 Convention, usually referred to as the Biological Weapon Convention or the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, was a major step toward the total elimination of these abhorrent weapons. As the use of such weapons was already banned by the 125 Protocol, the Convention prohibited development, production, stockpiling, acquisition, retention and transfer of such weapons, including the delivery systems, and required their destruction.

Syria signed the 1925 Protocol in 1968.

The Convention also required each country to enact national legislation to enforce its prohibitions. Regular review conferences of all signatories monitor compliance with the terms of the Convention and adopt recommendations to promote its implementation and effectiveness.

The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was a similar legal development, extending the prohibition on use in the 1925 Protocol to the development, production, stockpiling, retention and transfer of chemical weapons, including their delivery systems. 

Syria signed the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention.

International verification measures are the responsibility of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. It provides technical assistance to States in implementing the provisions of the Convention. Each State is also required to set up a national authority to ensure liaison and implementation.

The huge potential for both good and harm that major advances in the chemical and biological sciences bring, means that vigilance against the misuse of these advances to develop chemical and biological weapons continues to remain vitally important.

In order to counter these risks, in February 2013 the ICRC appealed to all States to limit the use of toxic chemicals as weapons for law enforcement purposes to riot-control agents only.

If in fact Syria used chemical and biological weapons against its people, it breached of the prohibitions, and it is in violation of international laws.