AG/RES. 2000 (XXXIV-O/04): The Americas As A Biological- And Chemical-Weapons-Free Region

(Adopted at the fourth plenary session held on June 8, 2004)

HAVING SEEN the Annual Report of the Permanent Council, in particular the section related to hemispheric security issues (AG/doc.4265/04 add.5 corr. 1);

AWARE of the determination of the international community to eradicate the development, production, use, stockpiling, and transfer of biological and chemical weapons;

BEARING IN MIND the Declaration on Security in the Americas, adopted at the Special Conference on Security, held in Mexico City, Mexico, in October 2003, in which the States of the Hemisphere declare their objective "to make the Americas a region free of biological and chemical weapons", and in particular the paragraphs 4.m, 4.y, 12, 13, and 14;

RECALLING its resolution "Cooperation for Security and Development in the Hemisphere: Regional Contributions to Global Security" [AG/RES. 1236 (XXIII-O/93)] which recognized the efforts of the member states to contribute to regional and global security and which commended them for their accession to the principles of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction;

RECALLING ALSO its resolutions "Inter-American Support for the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction" [AG/RES. 1624 (XXIX-O/99)] and "The Americas a Biological- and Chemical-Weapons-Free Region" [AG/RES. 1966 (XXXIII-O/03)];

NOTING that twenty-six member states are States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and thirty-one member states are States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention;

UNDERSCORING the importance of universal participation by all member states in the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions and their full implementation, in accordance with the domestic legal framework of each member state;

MINDFUL of the fundamental importance of full implementation and strict observance by member states of arms limitation, disarmament and non-proliferation obligations and commitments; and

WELCOMING the activities of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), among them the establishment of a working group, that encourage universal adherence to and foster full implementation of the CWC and of the practical program of work undertaken by BWC States Parties aimed at strengthening the Convention and stemming the biological weapons threat,

RESOLVES:

1. To concretely fulfill the shared commitment of member states to make the Americas a region free of biological and chemical weapons.

2. To reaffirm member states’ commitment to arms control, disarmament, and the non-proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction, and to the principles and norms of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention); the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (Biological Weapons Convention); and the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

3. To urge those member states which have not yet done so to consider adhering as soon as possible to the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention, to consider subscribing to the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (ICOC), and to promote the universalization of these Conventions and Arrangements.

4. To urge member states to adopt, at the national level, legal and administrative measures for the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention.

5. To welcome the specific steps taken by a number of member states to adhere to and implement said Conventions.

6. To urge member states’ participation in upcoming regional meetings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which encourage the universalization of the Chemical Weapons Convention, legislative measures to implement it, and the establishment of National Authorities to the OPCW.

7. To urge member states which have not yet done so, to establish National Authorities responsible for liaising with the OPCW, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.

8. To welcome efforts of the States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention to promote measures for national implementation and strengthen the Convention in order to stem the threat of biological weapons threat.

9. To carry the message of the importance of the implementation of, and compliance with, relevant international obligations outside the region.

10. To request that the Permanent Council discuss and review, in the framework of the Committee on Hemispheric Security, the efforts of member states to fulfill their commitment to a region free of biological and chemical weapons, in accordance with paragraph 13 of the Declaration on Security in the Americas.

11. To urge member states to implement the recommendations contained within the Declaration on Security in the Americas to prevent and eliminate the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

12. To request that the Secretary General transmit this resolution to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and to the Director General of the OPCW.

13. To request the Permanent Council to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth regular session on the implementation of this resolution, which will be carried out with the resources allocated in the program-budget of the Organization and other resources.