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Begin New Search Topic Weapons of Mass Destruction Author John Hart

1. Non–Compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention: Lessons from and for Iraq

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, John Hart, Frida Kulah, and Richard Guthrie
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
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.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Human Welfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Iraq and Arabia

2. Non–Compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention: Lessons from and for Iraq

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, John Hart, Frida Kulah, and Richard Guthrie
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
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.
Topic:
Arms Control and Proliferation, Human Welfare, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Iraq and Arab Countries

3. Maintaining the Effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, Frida Kuhlau, John Hart, and Ronald Sutherland
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
On 28 April 2003 a Special Conference of the States Parties to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be convened to review the implementation of the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC) and to take into account new, relevant, scientific and technological developments. Whatever specific points may be considered, this Conference needs to address two underlying issues: States Parties' long-term interests in continued participation in the OPCW regime; and how the treaty's effectiveness can be maintained and enhanced given the latest shifts in the security environment (including the new urgency of counter-terrorist efforts), current political and financial realities and the fast pace of technological change. These can best be tackled if the Conference focuses its attention on a small number of manageable, well-conceptualized issues. Otherwise there is a risk that the Conference could become bogged down in open-ended discussions on a myriad of unresolved operational implementation issues.
Topic:
Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

4. Maintaining the Effectiveness of the Chemical Weapons Convention

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, Frida Kuhlau, John Hart, and Ronald Sutherland
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
On 28 April 2003 a Special Conference of the States Parties to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will be convened to review the implementation of the 1993 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC) and to take into account new, relevant, scientific and technological developments. Whatever specific points may be considered, this Conference needs to address two underlying issues: States Parties' long-term interests in continued participation in the OPCW regime; and how the treaty's effectiveness can be maintained and enhanced given the latest shifts in the security environment (including the new urgency of counter-terrorist efforts), current political and financial realities and the fast pace of technological change. These can best be tackled if the Conference focuses its attention on a small number of manageable, well-conceptualized issues. Otherwise there is a risk that the Conference could become bogged down in open-ended discussions on a myriad of unresolved operational implementation issues. This paper is intended to inform such a conceptualized approach. It was prepared at SIPRI by John Hart, Frida Kuhlau, Ronald Sutherland and Jean Pascal Zanders. It was edited by Andy Mash.
Topic:
Peace Studies, Treaties and Agreements, and Weapons of Mass Destruction

5. Biotechnology and the Future of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention

Author:
Jean Pascal Zanders, Frida Kuhlau, and John Hart
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:
The spectre of the deliberate use of disease in war has long haunted humankind. The biological warfare threat became more realistic after the terrorist attacks against New York and Washington on 11 September 2001. Not only did the terrorists demonstrate that they were prepared to murder large numbers of people indiscriminately, they also exposed the vulnerability of many societies. The sense of vulnerability was increased by attacks in the United States with letters containing anthrax bacteria, which killed several people and infected many more. Against this background the Fifth Review Conference of the States Parties to the 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) convened in Geneva on 19 November 2001. One of its main tasks was to evaluate the functioning of the treaty in the light of scientific and technological developments. Biotechnology has expanded rapidly in the past three decades—offering the prospect of a better quality of life—but it can be applied to design new types of biological weapons (BW). This raises concern as to whether the BTWC is sufficiently comprehensive to cover these developments.
Topic:
Security, Arms Control and Proliferation, Science and Technology, Terrorism, and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
United States, New York, and Washington