Proceedings of the 15th International Academic Conference, Rome

DIARMAMENT IN INTERNATİONAL LAW AND THE ORGANISATION FOR PROHIBITION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS (OPCW)

SALIH KARATAŞ

Abstract:

One of the most threatening case against world peace and security is armament. This problem with the spread of weapons of mass destruction, has become inextricable. Like nuclear and biological weapons, chemical weapons in this context, regardless of the destination domain and cause heavy losses led to the deaths of millions of people until today. During the Second World War weapons of mass destruction often being referred to during international conflicts, but after the war this has been changed. Between the years 1963-1967 the chemical massacre carried out in Yemen, in 1988 Iran / Iraq War, the Iraqi government on the grounds that they help Iran, carried out chemical massacres against its Kurdish citizens (Halabja Massacre) and finally in 2013 during the Syrian civil war chemical massacres carried out against the citizens, these are all the evidence that the authoritarian governments in civil wars do not hesitate to use such weapons against their citizens. On disarmament initiatives Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) have an important place in international law. The number of countries that signed the Convention has reached 192 in 2014. However Israel and Myanmar has not ratified the Convention so it could not entered into force yet for these two signing states. The number of States parties to the Convention reached 190 with the latest Syria's participation. This number corresponds to approximately 90% of states. CWC was signed with the desire to eliminate mass destruction weapons in 21st century. To reach this aim the Convention established a regulatory and inspectionary mechanism. Since its foundation The Organisation For Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) carrying its duty to prevent developement, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and to manage their destruction process. In cooperation with the United Nations since 2013 OPCW is managing the process for the destruction of Syrian chemicals. For its clear efforts to provide peace in the world OPCW was awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Keywords: DISARMAMENT, MASS DESTRUCTİON WEAPONS, CWC, OPCW, SYRIA

DOI: 10.20472/IAC.2015.015.085

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