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UN Urges Universal Ratification of Chemical Weapons Convention

United Nations, Apr 29 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations confirmed today the importance of universal ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention, issuing a message to mark the day for remembering the victims of those devices, weapons it described as morally repellent.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction was signed in 1993 and came into effect in April 1997.

In his message for this day, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that the shadow of chemical weapons has appeared again amid recent allegations about their alleged use in Syria.

Ban Ki-moon noted that the 1997 Convention paved the way for the elimination of chemical weapons and for moving forward in the peaceful use of chemistry, while signing states demonstrated their insistence that these events never occur again.

The destruction of nearly 80 percent of the arsenals of that type has been verified.

However, the secretary regretted the fact that Egypt, Angola, Syria, Somalia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Israel, Myanmar and South Sudan have not joined the Convention so far, and urged them to ratify the document.

 

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