CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE
WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 23

This is CWC-18-07.

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REVCON PREPARATORY MEETING
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1. (U) Ambassador Parker (UK) chaired a meeting of the
open-ended working group for the Second Review Conference on
February 20. The meeting covered the modalities for a
possible meeting of States Parties and NGOs, as well as the
implementation of the CWC relating to general obligations and
declarations; general provisions on verification; and CW and
CW facilities. Parker had scheduled the morning and
afternoon for consultations, but in the end most delegations
seemed to lack guidance from capitals, so the consultation
wrapped up after the morning session.


2. (U) After the meeting, Parker told del rep that he was
surprised by the limited amount of input from delegations,
particularly on the destruction issue. Parker said that he
had expected much more criticism of major possessors'
destruction efforts.


3. (U) On the proposed meeting with NGOs, Parker suggested
that delegates consider holding the NGO meeting immediately
after the academic conference in October or November, or
immediately after the CSP this year. Of the three
possibilities, Parker said he thought the first would be the
best. He also advocated holding a meeting to review the
outcome of the Scientific Advisory Board meeting during the
summer.


4. (U) Sudan, speaking on behalf of the African group, which
had just held a coordination meeting before the OEWG meeting,
said that the African group opposed holding the NGO meeting
concurrently with the revcon itself as had been done at the
last revcon. Sudan said that only respected NGOs active in
the field of arms control should take part in the meeting.
Sudan also called for TS funding from the regular budget to
subsidize the travel costs of NGOs from developing countries.
South Africa, Iran, and Cuba proposed holding the NGO
meeting in early 2008.


5. (U) India, after arriving at the meeting late and not
having heard the earlier interventions made by delegations,
proposed holding the NGO meeting concurrently with the
revcon. Parker noted the African Group request not to do so.
New Zealand and the U.S. also noted that the concurrent
meeting had not worked so well at the last revcon. As a
result, India withdrew its suggestion. The Netherlands said
that holding the NGO meeting in January 2008 could be
problematic as it would be too close to the revcon. The
Dutch suggested holding the meeting in December 2007.


6. (U) South Korea urged the TS to post NGO documents on the
website. Parker said that this issue could be considered,
but that a filtering mechanism would have to be considered as
well. He said that perhaps the external server would be more
appropriate than the public website for NGO documentation.
Turkey said that efforts should be made to encourage
"geographic representation" be taken into account in inviting
NGOs to the meeting. Parker deftly suggested that
delegations and regional groups themselves could most
effectively play a role in this by urging NGOs from their
countries or regions attend the meeting. Iran proposed the
creation of a trust fund to pay for the travel of NGOs from
developing countries. Parker said that the EU may consider
funding such travel.


7. (U) In the end, Parker said that the bureau would reflect
on delegations comments on dates, the use of the website, NGO
participation, and other issues and then revise the paper on
these issues and redistribute it to SPs.


8. (U) On the second agenda item, the implementation of the
CWC, Iran said that the revcon should reaffirm the
obligations of the possessor states to destroy their
stockpiles and note that the existence of CW stockpiles
constitutes a threat to international peace and security.

Iran stated that the revcon would also have to make it clear
that the failure of possessor states to meet destruction
deadlines would constitute non-compliance with the CWC. Iran
said that the use of incapacitants in Iraq raises questions
that will have to be addressed by the revcon. The importance
of universality should be emphasized at the revcon
particularly "in states of serious concern" according to the
Iranian Ambassador. He said that the transfer of schedule 3
chemicals to non-SPs, as well as the full and complete
implementation of Article XI, would also have to be
addressed. Finally, the Iranians proposed discussing the
creation of an international support network for the victims
of CW at the revcon.


9. (U) India emphasized the importance of upholding the CWC
in its entirety and said it looked forward to reviewing the
verification annex particularly in light of the TS experience
since the last revcon. India looks forward to examining ways
in which the TS could help SPs in completing their
declarations.


10. (U) Germany said that it found the paper on the revcon
of September 22 to be a useful starting point for issues that
need to be covered during the revcon. The Germans emphasized
that the revcon should not excessively focus on the future
but rather on the past with a particular emphasis on
implementation to date. In the German view, there is a
backlog of outstanding issues that should be addressed. The
Germans would also like a fuller discussion of the general
purpose criterion, optimization, the verification of the
conversion of CWPF's, and guidelines on the frequency of
inspections for schedule 1 facilities.


11. (U) France also advocated further examination of the
general purpose criterion, as well as discussion of
electronic declaration submissions, the VIR, and sampling and
analysis. The UK noted the importance of deadlines and
meeting them. They advocated an increase in spending by
possessor states in order to meet the 2012 deadline. The UK
highlighted the importance of all destruction activities
being irreversible. They also noted that the CWC is a living
document and that technological and scientific developments
needed to be continued to be studied. The UK urged the DG to
ask the SAB to look into these issues. The UK also
introduced a non-paper that it distributed on the general
purpose criterion (e-mailed to ISN/CB on 2/20). The U.S.
delegation circulated the non-paper provided in State 20175.


12. (U) Sudan requested an updated document listing
outstanding issues since the last revcon. Germany and France
supported the Sudanese request. Turkey called for a stronger
focus on Article I obligations.


13. (U) The next meeting of the OEWG on the revcon will be
on March 23, and will focus on activities not prohibited
under the convention.

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ARTICLE X
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14. (U) Informal consultations on Article X were held on
February 21 by the new facilitator Jitka Brodska (Czech
Republic). The first topic was an overview of submissions on
paragraphs 4 (National Programs Questionnaire) and 7 (Offers
of Assistance Questionnaire). Muhammad Kazi of the
Assistance and Protection Branch said every year the TS sends
a reminder letter. This year they also asked Regional
Bureaus to promote submissions, took a previous U.S.
suggestion to add the formats to the OPCW website, and at
each APB activity held, encouraged submissions. APB chief
Gennadi Lutay said some offers originally made under para 7
were no longer valid, and the offers need to be renewed. He
said the TS plans to renew efforts to obtain more bilateral
agreements and will ask delegations to talk to their
capitals.


15. (U) Germany suggested creating an action plan to raise
the number of submissions, perhaps piggybacking on

universality and Article VII action plans. The suggestion of
an action plan was supported by Colombia, the Netherlands,
Iran and Algeria. The facilitator noted this and suggested
that would be a basis of work for the next session. In the
meantime she wanted to bring attention to submissions by
mentioning the upcoming para 4 deadline in her remarks at
EC-48, at which time the TS would hand-out copies of the
format. The U.S. suggested adding the web address for the
format. The TS said it would inform recipients that
countries should submit even in the case of a nil declaration.


16. (U) The next topic was APB activities for 2006 and
projected activities for 2007. The TS noted they want to do
additional regional courses, over the one per year they
currently do in Africa and Asia, noting high risk countries
need more activities. The facilitator suggested using the
2008 budget as a lever to focus on APB programs, to see where
there are gaps and fill them. She told delegations she
wanted to encourage a strategic approach to APB programs.
South Korea echoed the facilitator. They said the TS needs
to coordinate regional and national programs to get the
information together in order to build on previous events
with both small and large activities, and basic courses
should be followed-up by advanced courses. The Netherlands
said delegations need to see how resources (the TS budget,
voluntary contributions and in-kind offers) fit together
before digging at the budget.


17. (U) The TS is continuing to look into linking the
databank to the external server so National Authorities can
access it. However they are still researching the technology
to do this securely.


18. (U) Under any other business, the U.S. strongly
encouraged the TS to finish the status of implementation
report and distribute it to SPs as soon as possible before
the EC so capitals have enough time to evaluate it. There
was no response from other delegations. Also, the U.S.
requested the TS finish the Joint Assistance Exercise 2005
Lessons Learned Report as soon as possible and asked if the
TS had been working on the next major exercise -- perhaps in

SIPDIS
the Asian region as suggested in previous consultations. The
TS responded by saying they had not had a proposal from a

SIPDIS
partner, which is essential. Lutay said that he would like
to have another exercise in 2008, however planning should
begin now, as 18 months is needed to prepare for such an
exercise.


19. (U) Iran asked delegations to consider beginning work on
implementing paragraph 11 of Article X, noting that victims
of CW suffer in the long-term, rather than short-term. They
realize it is something of a static clause, but suggested
consultations to develop an idea, a framework or concept
paper on the issue. There was no response, however this does
follow comments made in their national statements over the
last two ECs and CSP-11.


20. (U) The facilitator said the next meeting would be at
beginning of May in order to get a better idea of how many
para 4 submissions are received by the April 30 deadline.
Documents (including submissions up-to-February 20) have been
faxed to ISN-CB.

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UNIVERSALITY UPDATE
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21. (U) Del rep met with Malik Ellahi (External Relations
Division) to discuss plans for the proposed Universality for
Africa workshop to be held in Algiers. A similar workshop
had been proposed and then canceled by the Algerians last
year. According to Ellahi, the TS and the Algerians are
still moving on planning for the workshop likely to be held
in June 2007. Malik told del rep that this would likely be
one of the last universality workshops. He said that ERD
would fund the travel of the non-SPs from Africa and the EU
would use left-over money from last year to fund the travel
of several African SPs who would share their experiences with
the non-SPs. Del will continue to monitor planning for the

workshop.


22. (U) Javits sends.
BLAKEMAN