At a press briefing yesterday (September 12, 2013) at the UN, the Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General confirmed that the Government of Syria has submitted an instrument of accession to the CWC to the UN Secretary-General.
The document is being translated and studied, according to standard procedure, to see if it meets the requirements of the CWC. If it does, the treaty will come into force for Syria on October 12, 2013.
So far 188 States have signed the CWC - 23 of them through instruments of accession and one of them through an instrument of acceptance.
Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
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Question: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad apparently said on Russian television just a short time ago that documents are being sent to the United Nations that would set out the agreement for handing over the chemical weapons arsenal. Have you heard anything about this? And what would be the procedure in carrying out this type of thing?
Associate Spokesperson: Well, the first thing I can confirm is that in the past few hours, we have received a document from the Government of Syria, which is being translated, which is to be an accession document concerning the Chemical Weapons Convention. So, we will study that document and I believe that is meant eventually to be circulated as a document. Yes?
Question: Well, just as a follow-up; where does that get circulated? What’s the procedural system that the UN has for handling a case like this?
Associate Spokesperson: I believe we will circulate this document in accordance with normal procedures. But first, like I said, it will also be studied; it will need to be translated and studied. Edie?
Question: Farhan, first to follow up on that; when you say an accession document, does that, does the accession document mean signing or ratification?
Associate Spokesperson: It’s a document of accession. There are a number of different ways of joining UN documents: signing, ratification and then there is accession. This would be accession.
Question: So… so… just to make clear, that this document would make Syria a full-fledged party to the Chemical Weapons Convention?
Associate Spokesperson: I think there [are] a number of relevant procedures that need to be followed, but that would be the first step of that. ...
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Question: Can I… I don’t understand this concept of accession; what does that exactly mean, can you elaborate further? I mean, to join the treaty, is it that they agreed to join the treaty? And then, again, what Edie said about ratification, I mean, or can you clarify that a little bit more?
Associate Spokesperson: Accession is one of the ways of joining a treaty. You deposit an instrument of accession and then you can accede; in other words, join the treaty. You then observe what the treaty entails. There is a process to be followed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty, and this is a step towards that.
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http://www.un.org/...
Participation in the Chemical Weapons Convention: How it Works
Paragraph 2 of Article VIII of the Convention provides that "[a]ll States Parties to this Convention shall be members of the Organization". A state becomes a State Party, and thereby a member of the Organisation, by one of two means — ratification or accession. Instruments of ratification or accession must be deposited with the designated Depositary of the Convention, who is the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Article XXIII).
The Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997, a period of 180 days after the date of the deposit of the 65th instrument of ratification (Article XXI, paragraph 1). The entry into force of the Convention simultaneously brought into being the OPCW. At the date of entry into force, 87 states had signed and ratified the Convention and were thus original members of the Organisation. At that time a further 78 states had signed the Convention, but had not yet deposited their instruments of ratification. These signatory states continue to be able to ratify the Convention after it has entered into force. States that did not sign the Convention prior to its entry into force may accede to it. For states whose instruments of ratification or accession are deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations, as Depositary of the Convention, the treaty enters into force on the 30th day following the date on which their instrument of ratification or accession was deposited (Article XXI, paragraph 2).
http://www.opcw.org/...
CONVENTION ON THE PROHIBITION OF THE DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTION, STOCKPILING AND USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS AND ON THEIR DESTRUCTION
ARTICLE XX
ACCESSION
Any State which does not sign this Convention before its entry into force may accede to it at any time thereafter.
http://www.opcw.org/...
STATUS OF PARTICIPATION IN THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION AS AT 21 MAY 2009
http://www.opcw.org/...
The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Article 15
Consent to be bound by a treaty expressed by accession
The consent of a State to be bound by a treaty is expressed by accession when:
(a) the treaty provides that such consent may be expressed by that State by means of accession;
(b) it is otherwise established that the negotiating States were agreed that such consent may be expressed by that State by means of accession; or
(c) all the parties have subsequently agreed that such consent may be expressed by that State by means of accession.
http://untreaty.un.org/...
I hope to have Regarding the Syrian Rebels V up tomorrow.
• Regarding the Syrian Rebels
• Regarding the Syrian Rebels II
• Regarding the Syrian Rebels III
• Regarding the Syrian Rebels IV
These are some other things I wrote earlier about Syria:
I should tell you the Mandate diaries are very long.
• Syria - Information which Might Help You Understand the Country a Little Better I & II
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
• The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon Timeline 1918 - 1946 Parts I - VI
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
http://www.dailykos.com/...