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The Chemical Weapons Convention


Non–Compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention: Lessons from and for Iraq
Jean Pascal Zanders, John Hart, Frida Kuhlau and Richard Guthrie
Stockhom Institute for Peace Research
October 2003

Introduction

Since the end of military action in Iraq and the formation of the Coalition Provisional Authority in May 2003, most debate on the future of Iraq has focused on the short–term problems of governance, internal security and economic reconstruction in that country. In addition to the immediate problems, there is also a need to address long–term issues, such as what role Iraq will play in multilateral bodies. Although some issues can only be resolved in the long term, others will require initial decisions to be taken in the near future. In the very long term (measured in terms of decades) there is no option other than for Iraq to be involved in multilateral controls on chemical weapons (CW). However, in the medium term (measured in years) it is unclear what the best method would be to take Iraq from its current situation—as an occupied state with, at the very least, a past CW programme of which knowledge is incomplete—to a new situation where an Iraqi Government commits Iraq to membership of and adherence to multilateral disarmament regimes.

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