Delegation from the French Republic
Position Paper for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The topics on the Agenda of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are
Eliminating financial means for the Development of Chemical Weapons Systems by Non-State Actors
and Truth and Reconciliation: Bolstering the Purpose of the CWC. The French Republic (France) recognizes the scale and importance of both topics and looks forward to tackling these challenges in cooperation with all Member States (MS).
I. Eliminating financial means for the Development of Chemical Weapons Systems by NonState Actors
The use of chemical weapons by non-state actors, while always a possibility, was traditionally limited by
the lack of means to effectively disperse them, as well as the high cost of deploying them. Recently, the
rapid development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), new ways to bypass global financial regulations
and increased accessibility to chemical weapons due to conflicts in failed states have made it easier
than ever before to acquire and deploy chemical weapons as a non-state actor. Even though the efforts
of the OPCW have resulted in 98% of declared chemical weapons stockpiles being verifiably destroyed,
there are still active chemical weapons programs in some countries, as well as over 1000 tons of declared chemical weapons, with a much higher dark figure. The international community must restrict the
access of non-state actors to existing stockpiles and the ability to individually develop chemical weapon
systems. One best practice to limit the power of non-state actors is via controlling their financial means.
France has long been engaged in the fight against chemical weapons, starting with being the depositary
of the 1925 Protocol on the Prohibition of the Use in War of Chemical and Bacteriological weapons. The
Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is the most important treaty for multilateral disarmament and
arms control and France is proud of having contributed essential parts of the text, leading to this landmark achievement being signed in Paris in 1993. In response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria,
France launched the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons in
2018. This partnership is a voluntary association of over 40 countries that aims to facilitate prosecution
for the development or use of chemical weapons trough compiling a blacklist of involved entities and
individuals. France applauds the United Nations (UN) General Assembly’s (GA) resolution 55/25 that
establishes a framework against transnational organized crime, under which non-state actors interested
in chemical weapon systems fall. Additionally, France applauds UN Security Council (SC) resolution
1373 that emphasizes the importance to cut funding for terrorist organizations to cripple them permanently. To ensure lasting success of the pursuit of organized crime, France strongly supports financial
sanctions. France supports the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) through transparent administration and cooperative financial legislation. The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) is the responsible institution to prevent financial crime, money laundering, and
the financing of terrorism in France. In cooperation with EBA and FATF, the AMF has established worldleading anti-money laundering legislation, transaction monitoring, and headlined the EU’s sixth AntiMoney Laundering Directive in 2018. The French Monetary and Financial Code furthermore provides
risk management and sanction systems.
The French Republic strongly believes that eliminating financial means plays an important role in the
fight against accessibility, development, and deployment of chemical weapons by non-state actors.
France proposes a mandatory global system to effectively monitor and trace payments for the necessary
chemical components of chemical weapons and related technological equipment. This system provides
authorities with the ability to track down groups that actively develop or produce such weapon systems
and relies on international cooperation to provide accurate data. Additionally, further emphasize has to
be put on the elimination of tax havens, as they lend themselves to money laundering of international
organized crime. Non-cooperative offshore financial centres increase the difficulty to accurately track
the money streams that support terrorism. France recommends an international implementation of its
AMF system and is willing to support MS in setting up necessary institutions, providing know-how, and
creating legislation. Furthermore, the French Republic urges the international community to increase
efforts to monitor and determine possible groups interested in obtaining or using chemical weapons. To
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the previously mentioned system, it is necessary to be aware
of which groups to target. For this, France advocates for the expansion of the counter-terrorist measures
proposed in UNSC resolution 1373 through the creation of a separate database that deals with groups
that can obtain or develop chemical weapons. This database allows the international community to accurately target the greatest potential dangers and increases the awareness of possible imminent attacks.
II. Truth and Reconciliation: Bolstering the Purpose of the CWC
The CWC has had great success since being ratified in 1997 and is the most important international
treaty that deals with the non-proliferation of chemical weapons. Over 98% of declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been verifiably destroyed. However, events like a helicopter of the Syrian Air Force
attacking a hospital with Sarin gas in 2017 show that the work of the CWC is not done and chemical
weapons are not yet abolished. France was the first country to suffer a large-scale attack with chemical
weapons in Ypres 1915 and is determined to eradicate access to these inhumane weapon systems. To
get rid of the last remaining 2% of stockpiles and manufacturing facilities, CWC has to be equipped with
new mechanisms to sanction non-compliant countries and current tools have to be elaborated. Furthermore, potential involvements of non-state actors and non-members must be anticipated, and France
urges CWC members to update current procedures.
Since the First World War, France has been at the front of anti-chemical weapons movements. The
country is not proud of its retaliation in kind seven months after the German attack at Ypres in 1915 but
has owned up to its actions and has deployed legislation to stop chemical warfare ever since. France is
proud to have been the original depository of the Geneva Protocol in 1925 and suggested a protocol for
the non-use of poisonous gases. The protocol entered force in 1928 and France has been closely following its guidelines ever since. All French chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed until
1989. France applauds the establishment of the CWC and ratified the convention in 1995. The country
fully complies with every commitment, including the establishment of the Site d’Élimination de Chargements d’Objets Identifiés Anciens (SECOIA) program. SECOIA deals with the destruction of chemical
munitions from the First World War, 20 tons of which are discovered every year. France applauds SC
resolution 1540 and its advances in strengthening the CWC’s mandate as well as clarifying its goals.
The implementation of the 1540 committee and subsequent extensions of its mandate are important
factors in the non-proliferation of chemical weapons. Furthermore, the French Republic values the cooperation between OPCW and SC in the aftermath of the use of chemical weapons in Syria. SC resolution 2018/321 reiterates the importance of the CWC and emphasizes the need for cooperation of UN
bodies with OPCW authorities to closely monitor any use of chemical weapons.
Even though the CWC has been immensely successful in limiting the presence of chemical weapons in
any state-to-state conflict and vastly decreased chemical weapons stockpiles after it came into force in
1997, subsequent crises have shown it to be incomplete. The CWC must evolve past its original purpose
of an institution primarily focused on disarming its members. The focus of the CWC should shift towards
adequately responding to the threats of proliferation by both non-members and non-state actors. As
disarmament is largely completed and most of existing chemical weapons stockpiles have verifiably
been destroyed, new technological and scientific discoveries present additional challenges. France worries that new-generation multipurpose chemical manufacturing plants can rapidly change their production towards mass-producing banned chemicals. This could result not only in evident violations of CWC
restrictions, but also circumvent current monitoring practices. The rapid pace of globalization and the
expansion of global value chains further strain the current monitoring processes designed to deal with
older infrastructure. France therefore proposes new mechanisms to supervise CWC restrictions, using
interconnected infrastructure and close cooperation with national authorities. The French Republic is
willing to provide monitoring technology and know-how to developing countries and urges other developed nations to follow its example. Another important step in the deployment of chemical weapons
concerns itself with the technology used to disperse a chemical agent. Recent innovations in nanotechnology and aerosol research have the potential severely increase the potence of chemical weapons. At
the moment, these technologies are highly advanced and not yet ready to be deployed. Still, their presence should motivate all MS to cooperate on countermeasures and legislation. France proposes the
creation of a catalogue under which these technologies are archived. If necessary, they can be included
in CWC and incorporated into OPCW monitoring systems. The effectiveness of the CWC is also closely
related to the Security Council, as the only body capable of producing legally binding resolutions. Potential sanctions and countermeasures lie at the mercy of the Security Council and the power of the P5
nations and their veto. France vouches to never veto any resolution targeted at the non-proliferation of
chemical weapons. There is no political and military justification for the possession or use of chemical
weapons and the related infrastructure. The French Republic therefore strongly urges fellow P5 nations
to join its commitment and to never veto resolutions aimed at eliminating accessibility, development,
and deployment of chemical weapon systems.