How to fight against chemical weapons? Faust among us

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The theme of the day is Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Chemical Weapons are the oldest and the most well known WMD, since they have been used in several and various circumstances since 1915. The challenge, in writing down a modern Convention, consisted in reaching an extensive definition of what a chemical weapon is and in constraining not only the disarmament field but also the proliferation trend. The Convention certainly took up the challenges but one question remains : did it achieve success ? Five years after its enforcement, a first assessment can be made concerning whether it succeeded or not. Indeed it seems, if we turn to some ominous aspects such as the Russian stalemate, the non-application of the challenge inspection and the still ongoing chemical research efforts, that the Convention is currently losing some of its constraining power. It might end up as a mere reference text. –Summary AFRI-2003