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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 525 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 525

Recognizing the progress made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons 
      Convention on the occasion of the Second Review Conference.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 22, 2008

     Mr. Biden (for himself and Mr. Lugar) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Recognizing the progress made by States Parties to the Chemical Weapons 
      Convention on the occasion of the Second Review Conference.

Whereas, on April 24, 1997, the Senate gave its advice and consent to the 
        ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, 
        Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their 
        Destruction, with Annexes, done at Paris January 13, 1993 (commonly 
        known as the ``Chemical Weapons Convention'' and the ``CWC'') (T. Doc. 
        103-21);
Whereas, the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on April 29, 1997;
Whereas, since the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force, more than 
        27,000 metric tons of chemical weapons have been destroyed, representing 
        over 35 percent of the declared chemical weapon stockpiles worldwide;
Whereas 11 chemical weapons destruction facilities are currently in operation in 
        5 countries;
Whereas none of the 65 chemical weapons production facilities declared by 12 
        States Parties are producing chemical weapons, and all but 4 of the 
        facilities have been either verifiably destroyed or converted for 
        peaceful purposes in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention;
Whereas, on July 11, 2007, Albania became the first State Party to completely 
        eliminate its entire stockpile of chemical weapons, with assistance from 
        the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program;
Whereas membership in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 
        now stands at 183 states, encompassing 98 percent of the world's 
        population, up from 87 States Parties when the Chemical Weapons 
        Convention entered into force;
Whereas the First Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to 
        Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention was opened on 
        April 28, 2003, and 113 States Parties participated in the First Review 
        Conference; and
Whereas the Second Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention opened 
        on April 7, 2008, in The Hague, Netherlands: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) reaffirms its support for the purposes, operations, and 
        undertakings of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which have 
        served the interests of international peace and security and 
        the national security interests of the United States;
            (2) notes the progress that has been made by States Parties 
        to the Chemical Weapons Convention toward the elimination of 
        stockpiles of deadly chemical weapons in possessor states, and 
        urges continued progress toward that goal;
            (3) calls on all States Parties--
                    (A) to continue their compliance with their 
                obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention to 
                permit the monitoring and verification of the 
                inactivation, and later destruction or conversion, of 
                all chemical weapons production facilities, as well as 
                the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles;
                    (B) to submit and allow verification of the 
                consistency of industrial chemical declarations; and
                    (C) to allow the effective monitoring of the non-
                diversion of chemicals for activities prohibited under 
                the Chemical Weapons Convention; and
            (4) calls on all States Parties to adopt the necessary 
        laws, regulations, and enforcement practices to ban chemical 
        weapons activities, pursuant to Article VIII of the Chemical 
        Weapons Convention and United Nations Security Council 
        Resolution 1540 (2004), and to afford appropriate legal and 
        regulatory assistance to other countries so as to achieve full 
        implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
                                 <all>
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