Research Guides: Chemical Weapons: Home

Chemical Weapons

Chemical weapons have been used throughout wars of the 20^th century, first with commercially available chemicals used within standards weapons, then with chemicals weapons capabilities created for military purposes. In 1925, the Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of chemical weapons in warfare. It was later completed by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) in 1997.

Key Resources from UNODA

Disarmament: a Basic Guide by United Nations Publications (Editor)
ISBN: 9789211423235
Publication Date: 2017
Conceived as a comprehensive introduction to a field central to the work of the United Nations, Disarmament: A Basic Guide aims to provide a useful overview of the nuanced challenges of building a more peaceful world in the twenty-first century. It was written with the general reader in mind and it strives to be accessible without downplaying the complexity of the issues it explores.

Fact Sheets

Key Resource: OPCW

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997. As of today the OPCW has 190 Member States, who are working together to achieve a world free from chemical weapons.

Recent updates from the OPCW:

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Disarmament Resource Guides

Please find below links to resource guides on other topics related to disarmament by type of weapon:

Disarmament: Global Issues
Biological weapons
Nuclear weapons
Conventional weapons
Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (created in collaboration with the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at United Nations Headquarters and the UN Mine Action Service)