Many more of the national papers submitted to the Second CWC Review Conference have now been posted on the OPCW website, including four from China and four from Switzerland. Among the Swiss papers is RC-2/NAT.12 on “Riot Control Agents and Incapacitating Agents under the Chemical Weapons Convention”, the first time this issue has been raised in detail in a formal national paper.
The Swiss paper notes how Switzerland considered the RevCon “to be an opportune time” to launch a discussion of the ambiguities of the CWC regarding riot control agents, and the lack of provisions pertaining to incapacitating agents, given that uncertainty surrounding the status of incapacitating agents risks undermining the treaty. After outlining nine theses for consideration by states parties, the paper concludes by calling upon states parties to
consider adopting during the Second Review Conference a mandate for a discussion of, inter alia, an agreed definition of incapacitating agents, the status of incapacitating agents under the Convention, and possible transparency measures for incapacitating agents.
Such a decision wasn’t taken by the RevCon, although language on incapacitants was nearly included in the final report, as Oliver Meier explains in his recent Arms Control Today article.
The additional national papers are all linked on the “Documents” page of this website.
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