THE 143 countries that have banned chemical weapons are meeting in The Hague
this week amid a worsening financial crisis that threatens the future of the
Chemical Weapons Convention. With a budget deficit of nearly 10 per cent looming
this year, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has had to
make deep cuts in the number of chemicals plants it inspects each year for
clandestine weapons production.
Some treaty states, including Russia and the US, have fallen behind on
payments. But another problem is that member states pay the OPCW to oversee the
destruction of their chemical weapons. With Russia鈥檚 weapons-destruction
programme鈥攖he biggest鈥攈amstrung by lack of funds, the OPCW has had
less business than expected.
As the meeting opened this week, Nikolai Bezborodov, head of the Russian
delegation, warned that without more foreign help Russia will not be able to
destroy its 40,000 tonnes of mustard and nerve gas and other poisons in the next
10 years. The US had been helping to pay for Russia鈥檚 programme but stopped two
years ago, complaining of slow progress, and will decide shortly whether to
start again.
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Without enough foreign aid, Russia could withdraw from the Chemical Weapons
Convention, a fatal blow to the treaty. But, warns John Hart of Vertic, an
arms-control think tank in London, a continuing cash crisis would be enough to
prevent meaningful enforcement of the treaty because experienced inspectors
would be forced to leave the OPCW.
For the past year, former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has been touring
European capitals asking for support for destroying Russia鈥檚 chemical weapons.
He warns that poorly guarded poisons may reach terrorists and rogue states.