Geneva Protocol

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Geneva Protocol
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare
Drafted17 June 1925[1]
Signed17 June 1925[1]
LocationGeneva[1]
Effective8 February 1928[1]
ConditionRatification by 65 states[2]
Signatories38[1]
Parties146[3]
DepositaryGovernment of France[1]
Full text
File:Wikisource-logo.svg Geneva Protocol to Hague Convention at Wikisource

The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929.[4] The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War signed on the same date, and followed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

It prohibits the use of "asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods of warfare". This is now understood to be a general prohibition on chemical weapons and biological weapons, but has nothing to say about production, storage or transfer. Later treaties did cover these aspects – the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

A number of countries submitted reservations when becoming parties to the Geneva Protocol, declaring that they only regarded the non-use obligations as applying to other parties and that these obligations would cease to apply if the prohibited weapons were used against them.[5][6]

The main elements of the protocol are now considered by many to be part of customary international law.

Negotiation history[edit | edit source]

File:British 55th Division gas casualties 10 April 1918.jpg
British troops blinded by poison gas during the Battle of Estaires, 1918

In the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the use of dangerous chemical agents was outlawed. In spite of this, the First World War saw large-scale chemical warfare. France used tear gas in 1914, but the first large-scale successful deployment of chemical weapons was by the German Empire in Ypres, Belgium in 1915, when chlorine gas was released as part of a German attack at the Battle of Gravenstafel. Following this, a chemical arms race began, with the United Kingdom, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, and Italy joining France and Germany in the use of chemical weapons. This resulted in the development of a range of horrific chemicals affecting lungs, skin, or eyes. Some were intended to be lethal on the battlefield, like hydrogen cyanide, and efficient methods of deploying agents were invented. At least 124,000 tons were produced during the war. In 1918, about one grenade out of three was filled with dangerous chemical agents. Around 1.3 million casualties of the conflict were attributed to the use of gas and the psychological effect on troops may have had a much greater effect.[7] As protective equipment developed, the technology to destroy such equipment also became a part of the arms race. The use of deadly poison gas was not only limited to combatants in the front but also civilians as nearby civilian towns were at risk from winds blowing the poison gases through. Civilians living in towns rarely had any warning systems about the dangers of poison gas as well as not having access to effective gas masks. The use of chemical weapons employed by both sides had inflicted an estimated 100,000-260,000 civilian casualties during the conflict. Tens of thousands or more (along with military personnel) died from scarring of the lungs, skin damage, and cerebral damage in the years after the conflict ended. In the year 1920 alone, over 40,000 civilians and 20,000 military personnel died from the chemical weapons effects.[7][8]

The Treaty of Versailles included some provisions that banned Germany from either manufacturing or importing chemical weapons. Similar treaties banned the First Austrian Republic, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Hungary from chemical weapons, all belonging to the losing side, the Central powers. Russian bolsheviks and Britain continued the use of chemical weapons in the Russian Civil War and possibly in the Middle East in 1920.

Three years after World War I, the Allies wanted to reaffirm the Treaty of Versailles, and in 1922 the United States introduced the Treaty relating to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare at the Washington Naval Conference.[9] Four of the war victors, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Japan, gave consent for ratification, but it failed to enter into force as the French Third Republic objected to the submarine provisions of the treaty.[9]

At the 1925 Geneva Conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the French suggested a protocol for non-use of poisonous gases. The Second Polish Republic suggested the addition of bacteriological weapons.[10] It was signed on 17 June.[11]

Violations[edit | edit source]

File:Sarin test rabbit.jpg
Rabbit used to check for leaks at a sarin production plant in 1970

Several countries have deployed or prepared chemical weapons in spite of the treaty; Spain and France did so in the Rif War in 1928, after the signing of the Protocol but prior to its taking effect, Japan used chemical weapons against Taiwan in 1930 during the Musha Incident, Italy used mustard gas against the Ethiopian Empire in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, and Japan used chemical weapons against China in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In the Second World War, the U.S., the UK, and Germany prepared the resources to deploy chemical weapons, stockpiling tons of them, but refrained from their use due to the balance of terror: the probability of horrific retaliation. There was an accidental release of mustard gas in Bari, Italy causing many deaths when a U.S. ship carrying CW ammunition was sunk in the harbor during an air raid. After the war, thousands of tons of shells and containers with tabun, sarin and other chemical weapons were disposed of at sea by the Allies.

Early in the Cold War, the UK collaborated with the U.S. in the development of chemical weapons. The Soviet Union also had the facilities to produce chemical weapons but their development was kept secret.

During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Iraq is known to have employed a variety of chemical weapons against Iranian forces, as well as nerve agents against Kurdish civilians, the most notorious example of which was 1988 attack on Halabja.

Both the Syrian government and opposition forces accused each other of using chemical weapons in 2013 in Ghouta and Khan al-Assal during the Syrian civil war, though as any such use would be within Syria's own borders, rather than in warfare between state parties to the protocol, the legal situation is less certain.[12] A 2013 United Nations report confirmed the use of sarin, but did not investigate which side used chemical weapons.[13] In 2014, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed the use of chlorine gas in the Syrian villages of Talmanes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zeta, but did not say which side used the gas.[14]

Historical assessment[edit | edit source]

Eric Croddy, assessing the Protocol in 2005, took the view that the historic record showed it had been largely ineffectual. Specifically it did not prohibit:[11]

  • use against not-ratifying parties
  • retaliation using such weapons, so effectively making it a no-first-use agreement
  • use within a state's own borders in a civil conflict
  • research and development of such weapons, or stockpiling them

In light of these shortcomings, Jack Beard notes that "the Protocol (...) resulted in a legal framework that allowed states to conduct [biological weapons] research, develop new biological weapons, and ultimately engage in [biological weapons] arms races".[6]

Despite the U.S. having been a proponent of the protocol, the U.S. military and American Chemical Society lobbied against it, causing the U.S. Senate not to ratify the protocol until 1975, the same year when the United States ratified the Biological Weapons Convention.[11][15]

Subsequent interpretation of the protocol[edit | edit source]

In 1966, United Nations General Assembly resolution 2162B called for, without any dissent, all states to strictly observe the protocol. In 1969, United Nations General Assembly resolution 2603 (XXIV) declared that the prohibition on use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts, as embodied in the protocol (though restated in a more general form), were generally recognized rules of international law.[16] Following this, there was discussion of whether the main elements of the protocol now form part of customary international law, and now this is widely accepted to be the case.[15][17]

There have been differing interpretations over whether the protocol covers the use of harassing agents, such as adamsite and tear gas, and defoliants and herbicides, such as Agent Orange, in warfare.[15][18] The 1977 Environmental Modification Convention prohibits the military use of environmental modification techniques having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects. Many states do not regard this as a complete ban on the use of herbicides in warfare, but it does require case-by-case consideration.[19] The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention effectively banned riot control agents from being used as a method of warfare, though still permitting it for riot control.[20]

In recent times, the protocol has been interpreted to cover internal conflicts as well international ones. In 1995, an appellate chamber in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia stated that "there had undisputedly emerged a general consensus in the international community on the principle that the use of chemical weapons is also prohibited in internal armed conflicts." In 2005, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded that customary international law includes a ban on the use of chemical weapons in internal as well as international conflicts.[12]

State parties[edit | edit source]

File:Geneva Protocol parties.svg
Parties to the Geneva Protocol
  Parties with no reservations
  Parties with withdrawn reservations
  Parties with implicit reservations
  Parties with unwithdrawn reservations limiting the applicability of provisions of the Protocol
  Non-parties

To become party to the Protocol, states must deposit an instrument with the government of France (the depositary power). Thirty-eight states originally signed the Protocol. France was the first signatory to ratify the Protocol on 10 May 1926. El Salvador, the final signatory to ratify the Protocol, did so on 26 February 2008. As of April 2021, 146 states have ratified, acceded to, or succeeded to the Protocol,[3] most recently Colombia on 24 November 2015.

Reservations[edit | edit source]

A number of countries submitted reservations when becoming parties to the Geneva Protocol, declaring that they only regarded the non-use obligations as applying with respect to other parties to the Protocol and/or that these obligations would cease to apply with respect to any state, or its allies, which used the prohibited weapons. Several Arab states also declared that their ratification did not constitute recognition of, or diplomatic relations with, Israel, or that the provision of the Protocol were not binding with respect to Israel. Generally, reservations not only modify treaty provisions for the reserving party, but also symmetrically modify the provisions for previously ratifying parties in dealing with the reserving party.[15]: 394  Subsequently, numerous states have withdrawn their reservations, including the former Czechoslovakia in 1990 prior to its dissolution,[21] or the Russian reservation on biological weapons that "preserved the right to retaliate in kind if attacked" with them, which was dissolved by President Yeltsin.[22]

According to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, states which succeed to a treaty after gaining independence from a state party "shall be considered as maintaining any reservation to that treaty which was applicable at the date of the succession of States in respect of the territory to which the succession of States relates unless, when making the notification of succession, it expresses a contrary intention or formulates a reservation which relates to the same subject matter as that reservation." While some states have explicitly either retained or renounced their reservations inherited on succession, states which have not clarified their position on their inherited reservations are listed as "implicit" reservations.

Party[1][3][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] Signed[32] Deposited Reservations[1][15][24][25][33][34][35][36][37] Notes
File:Flag of the Taliban.svg Afghanistan 2 September 1986
File:Flag of Albania.svg Albania 12 December 1989
File:Flag of Algeria.svg Algeria 14 January 1992
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[38]
File:Flag of Angola.svg Angola 30 October 1990
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[39]
 Antigua and Barbuda 1 February 1989
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
 Argentina 8 May 1969
File:Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia 13 March 2018
 Australia 22 January 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1986.[40]
 Austria 17 June 1925 9 May 1928
 Bahrain 9 November 1988
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[Reservation 3]
[41]
File:Flag of Bangladesh.svg Bangladesh 20 May 1989
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[42]
File:Flag of Barbados.svg Barbados 16 July 1976
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrew the reservations made by the United Kingdom on succession.[43]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
 Belgium 17 June 1925 4 December 1928
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1997.[44]
File:Flag of Benin.svg Benin 4 December 1986
File:Flag of Bhutan.svg Bhutan 12 June 1978
File:Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg Bolivia 14 January 1985
 Brazil 17 June 1925 28 August 1970
File:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria 17 June 1925 7 March 1934
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1991.[45]
File:Flag of Burkina Faso.svg Burkina Faso 1 March 1971 Ratified as the Republic of Upper Volta.
File:Flag of Cambodia.svg Cambodia 15 March 1983 [Reservation 2] The Protocol was ratified by the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea in exile in 1983. 13 states (including the depositary France) objected to their ratification, and considered it legally invalid. In 1993, the Kingdom of Cambodia stated in a note verbale that it considered itself bound by the provisions of the Protocol.[46]
 Cameroon 21 April 1989
File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Canada 17 June 1925 6 May 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1991 as regards bacteriological agents, and completely withdrawn in 1999.[47]
File:Flag of Cape Verde.svg Cape Verde 20 May 1991
File:Flag of the Central African Republic.svg Central African Republic 30 July 1970
File:Flag of Chile.svg Chile 17 June 1925 2 July 1935
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1991.[48]
 China 7 August 1929
[Reservation 2] Made on succession.[49]
Ratified as the Republic of China, from which the People's Republic of China succeeded on 13 July 1952.[49]
File:Flag of Colombia.svg Colombia 24 November 2015
File:Flag of Costa Rica.svg Costa Rica 17 June 2009
 Côte d'Ivoire 27 July 1970
File:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia 25 September 2006
 Cuba 24 May 1966
File:Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus 29 November 1966
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic 19 September 1993
[Reservation 2] Withdrawn prior to succession.
Succeeded from Czechoslovakia, which ratified the protocol on 16 August 1938.
File:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark 17 June 1925 5 May 1930
File:Flag of the Dominican Republic.svg Dominican Republic 4 December 1970
File:Flag of Ecuador.svg Ecuador 10 September 1970
File:Flag of Egypt.svg Egypt 17 June 1925 6 December 1928
File:Flag of El Salvador.svg El Salvador 17 June 1925 12 January 2010
File:Flag of Equatorial Guinea.svg Equatorial Guinea 16 May 1989
File:Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia 17 June 1925 28 August 1931
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1999.[50]
File:Flag of Eswatini.svg Eswatini 10 July 1991
File:Flag of Ethiopia.svg Ethiopia 17 June 1925 7 October 1935
File:Flag of Fiji.svg Fiji 21 March 1973
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Retained the United Kingdom's reservations on succession.[51]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
 Finland 17 June 1925 26 June 1929
File:Flag of France.svg France 17 June 1925 10 May 1926
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1996.[52]
File:Flag of The Gambia.svg Gambia 5 November 1966
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Germany.svg Germany 17 June 1925 25 April 1929
File:Flag of Ghana.svg Ghana 2 May 1967
File:Flag of Greece.svg Greece 17 June 1925 30 May 1931
File:Flag of Grenada.svg Grenada 3 January 1989
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Guatemala.svg Guatemala 3 May 1983
File:Flag of Guinea-Bissau.svg Guinea-Bissau 20 May 1989
File:Flag of the Vatican City.svg  Holy See 12 October 1966
File:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary 17 June 1925 11 October 1952
File:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland 19 December 1966
File:Flag of India.svg India 17 June 1925 9 April 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[53]
File:Flag of Indonesia.svg Indonesia 14 January 1971
[Reservation 4] Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the Netherlands.
 Iran 4 July 1929
File:Flag of Iraq.svg Iraq 18 August 1931
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[54]
File:Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland 18 August 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1972.[55]
File:Flag of Israel.svg Israel 10 February 1969
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[56]
File:Flag of Italy.svg Italy 17 June 1925 3 April 1928
File:Flag of Jamaica.svg Jamaica 28 July 1970
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Japan.svg Japan 17 June 1925 21 May 1970
File:Flag of Jordan.svg Jordan 20 January 1977
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[Reservation 3]
[57]
File:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg Kazakhstan 20 April 2020
 Kenya 17 June 1970
File:Flag of North Korea.svg Korea, Democratic People's Republic of 22 December 1988
[Reservation 2] [58]
 Korea, Republic of 29 December 1988
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Reservation 2 withdrawn in 2002 as regards biological agents covered by the BWC.
File:Flag of Kuwait.svg Kuwait 15 December 1971
[Reservation 3]
[Reservation 5]
[59]
File:Flag of Kyrgyzstan.svg Kyrgyzstan 29 June 2020
File:Flag of Laos.svg Laos 16 January 1989
File:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia 17 June 1925 3 June 1931
File:Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon 15 April 1969
File:Flag of Lesotho.svg Lesotho 10 March 1972
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Liberia.svg Liberia 2 April 1927
File:Flag of Libya.svg Libya 21 December 1971
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[Reservation 3]
[60]
File:Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Liechtenstein 16 May 1991
File:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania 17 June 1925 15 June 1933
File:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg 17 June 1925 1 September 1936
File:Flag of North Macedonia.svg North Macedonia 20 August 2015
 Madagascar 2 August 1967
File:Flag of Malawi.svg Malawi 4 September 1970
File:Flag of Malaysia.svg Malaysia 7 December 1970
File:Flag of Maldives.svg Maldives 27 December 1966
File:Flag of Malta.svg Malta 9 October 1970
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Mauritius.svg Mauritius 23 December 1970
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico 28 March 1932
File:Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova 14 January 2011
File:Flag of Monaco.svg Monaco 15 December 1966
File:Flag of Mongolia.svg Mongolia 18 November 1968
[Reservation 2] Withdrawn in 1990.[61]
 Morocco 7 October 1970
File:Flag of Nepal.svg   Nepal 7 May 1969
 Netherlands 17 June 1925 31 October 1930
[Reservation 4] Withdrawn in 1995.[62]
 New Zealand 22 January 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1989.[63]
File:Flag of Nicaragua.svg Nicaragua 17 June 1925 5 October 1990
File:Flag of Niger.svg Niger 5 April 1967
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from France.
File:Flag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria 9 October 1968
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[64]
 Norway 17 June 1925 27 July 1932
File:Flag of Pakistan.svg Pakistan 15 April 1960
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from India.
File:Flag of Palestine.svg Palestine 19 January 2018
File:Flag of Panama.svg Panama 26 November 1970
File:Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg Papua New Guinea 2 September 1980
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Retained Australia's reservations on succession.[65]
Succeeded from Australia.
File:Flag of Paraguay.svg Paraguay 22 October 1933
File:Flag of Peru.svg Peru 5 June 1985
File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Philippines 29 May 1973
File:Flag of Poland.svg Poland 17 June 1925 4 February 1929
File:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal 17 June 1925 1 July 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Reservation 2 withdrawn in 2003, and reservation 1 withdrawn in 2014.
File:Flag of Qatar.svg Qatar 16 September 1976
File:Flag of Romania.svg Romania 17 June 1925 23 August 1929
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1991.[66]
File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia 17 June 1925 5 April 1928
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 2001.[67]
Ratified as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
File:Flag of Rwanda.svg Rwanda 21 March 1964
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from Belgium.
File:Flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis.svg Saint Kitts and Nevis 26 October 1989
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Saint Lucia.svg Saint Lucia 21 December 1988
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.svg Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 23 April 1999
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg Saudi Arabia 27 January 1971
File:Flag of Senegal.svg Senegal 15 June 1977
File:Flag of Serbia.svg Serbia 20 January 2003
[Reservation 2] Implicit on succession.[Note 1] Serbia's Parliament voted to withdraw their reservation in May 2009[68] and the withdrawal was announced in 2010, but the depositary has not been notified.[69]
Succeeded as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,[Note 2] which had ratified the protocol as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 12 April 1929.
File:Flag of Sierra Leone.svg Sierra Leone 20 February 1967
File:Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia 1 July 1997[Note 3]
[Reservation 2] Withdrawn prior to succession.
Succeeded from Czechoslovakia, which ratified the protocol on 16 August 1938.
File:Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia 8 April 2008
File:Flag of the Solomon Islands.svg Solomon Islands 1 June 1981
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Retained the United Kingdom's reservations on succession.[71]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of South Africa.svg South Africa 24 May 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1996.[72]
File:Flag of Spain.svg Spain 17 June 1925 22 August 1929
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Withdrawn in 1992.[73]
 Sri Lanka 20 January 1954 Ratified as the Dominion of Ceylon.
File:Flag of Sudan.svg Sudan 17 December 1980
File:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden 17 June 1925 25 April 1930
File:Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg Switzerland 17 June 1925 12 July 1932
File:Flag of Syria (2025-).svg Syria 17 December 1968
[Reservation 3] [74]
File:Flag of Tajikistan.svg Tajikistan 15 November 2019
File:Flag of Tanzania.svg Tanzania 28 February 1963 Ratified as the Republic of Tanganyika.
File:Flag of Thailand.svg Thailand 17 June 1925 6 June 1931 [Note 4] Ratified as Siam.
File:Flag of Togo.svg Togo 18 November 1970
File:Flag of Tonga.svg Tonga 19 July 1971
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
File:Flag of Trinidad and Tobago.svg Trinidad and Tobago 24 November 1970
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
 Tunisia 12 July 1967
File:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey 17 June 1925 5 October 1929
File:Flag of Uganda.svg Uganda 2 April 1965
File:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine 7 August 2003
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Implicit on succession.[Note 1]
Succeeded from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
 United Kingdom 17 June 1925 9 April 1930
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
Reservation 2 withdrawn in 1991 as regards biological agents covered by the BWC, and reservations completely withdrawn in 2002.[76]
File:Flag of the United States.svg United States of America 17 June 1925 10 April 1975
[Reservation 4] [77]
File:Flag of Uruguay.svg Uruguay 17 June 1925 12 April 1977
File:Flag of Uzbekistan.svg Uzbekistan 5 October 2020
File:Flag of Venezuela.svg Venezuela 17 June 1925 8 February 1928
File:Flag of Vietnam.svg Vietnam 15 December 1980
[Reservation 1]
[Reservation 2]
[78]
File:Flag of Yemen.svg Yemen 11 March 1971
[Reservation 3] Made in a second instrument of accession submitted on 16 September 1973.[Note 5]
Ratified as the Yemen Arab Republic. Also ratified by the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen on 20 October 1986, prior to Yemeni unification in 1990.[79]
  Parties with withdrawn reservations
  Parties with implicit reservations
  Parties with unwithdrawn reservations limiting the applicability of provisions of the Protocol
Reservations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av Binding only with regards to states which have ratified or acceded to the protocol.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc Ceases to be binding in regards to any state, and its allies, which does not observe the prohibitions of the protocol.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Does not constitute recognition of, or establishing any relations with, Israel.
  4. ^ a b c Ceases to be binding as to the use of chemical weapons in regards to any enemy state which does not observe the prohibitions of the protocol.
  5. ^ Ceases to be binding in the case of a violation.
Notes
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s According to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, states which succeed to a treaty after gaining independence from a state party "shall be considered as maintaining any reservation to that treaty which was applicable at the date of the succession of States in respect of the territory to which the succession of States relates unless, when making the notification of succession, it expresses a contrary intention or formulates a reservation which relates to the same subject matter as that reservation." Any state which has not clarified their position on reservations inherited on succession are listed as "implicit" reservations.
  2. ^ Although the FR Yugoslavia claimed to be the continuator state of the SFR of Yugoslavia, the United Nations General Assembly did not accept this and forced them to reapply for membership.
  3. ^ Listed as 28 October 1997 by the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs.[70]
  4. ^ Some sources list two reservations by Thailand, but neither the instrument of accession,[1] nor the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs list,[75] makes any mention of a reservation.
  5. ^ According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, states may make a reservation when "signing, ratifying, accepting, approving or acceding to a treaty".

Non-signatory states[edit | edit source]

The remaining UN member states and UN observers that have not acceded or succeeded to the Protocol are:

Chemical weapons prohibitions[edit | edit source]

Year Name Effect
1675 Strasbourg Agreement The first international agreement limiting the use of chemical weapons, in this case, poison bullets.
1874 Brussels Convention on the Law and Customs of War Prohibited the employment of poison or poisoned weapons (Never entered into force.)
1899 1st Peace Conference at the Hague European Nations agreed to abstain from "the use of projectiles the object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases."
1907 2nd Peace Conference at the Hague The Conference added the use of poison or poisoned weapons.
1919 Treaty of Versailles Prohibited poison gas in Germany.
1922 Treaty relating to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare Failed because France objected to clauses relating to submarine warfare.
1925 Geneva Protocol Prohibited the "use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods".
1972 Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention No verification mechanism, negotiations for a protocol to make up this lack halted by USA in 2001.
1993 Chemical Weapons Convention Comprehensive bans on development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons, with destruction timelines.
1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Makes it a war crime to employ chemical weapons in international conflicts. (2010 amendment extends prohibition to internal conflicts.)

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Protocole concernant la prohibition d'emploi à la guerre de gaz asphyxiants, toxiques ou similaires et de moyens bactériologiques, fait à Genève le 17 juin 1925" (in French). Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of France. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  2. ^ Chemical Weapons Convention, Article 21.
  3. ^ a b c "Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare". United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
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Further reading[edit | edit source]

  • Frederic Joseph Brown (2005). "Chapter 3: The Evolution of Policy 1922-1939 / Geneva Gas Protocol". Chemical warfare: a study in restraints. Transaction Publishers. pp. 98–110. ISBN 1-4128-0495-7.
  • Bunn, George. "Gas and germ warfare: international legal history and present status." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 65.1 (1970): 253+. online
  • Webster, Andrew. "Making Disarmament Work: The implementation of the international disarmament provisions in the League of Nations Covenant, 1919–1925." Diplomacy and Statecraft 16.3 (2005): 551–569.

External links[edit | edit source]


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