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Home > Chemical weapons

Weapons which cause injuries of various kinds and degrees to man and beast by the use of the asphyxiating, toxic, irritant, paralysing, growth-regulating, anti-lubricating or catalytic properties of a solid, liquid or gaseous chemical.

Chemical weapons may also pollute food, beverages and materials. Their use, manufacture and stockpiling are prohibited.

See Biological and bacteriological weapons [1]; Means of warfare [2]; Weapons [3]; Conduct of hostilities [4];

 OUTLINE

Chapter 9, d) chemical weapons [5]

 LEGAL SOURCE

CIHL, 74 [6]

CIHL, 75 [7]

CIHL, 76 [8]

 DOCUMENTS

The Geneva Chemical Weapons Protocol [9]

Convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and on their destruction, Paris 13 January 1993 [10]

Switzerland, Prohibition of the Use of Chemical Weapons [11]

 CASES

  • UN, ICRC, The Use of Chemical Weapons [12]
  • Iraq, The Battle for Mosul [13]

 BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES

Suggested reading :

BOTHE Michael (ed.), The New Chemical Weapons Convention: Implementation and Prospects, The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 1998, 613 pp.

International Institute of Humanitarian Law, The Chemical Weapons Convention: between Disarmament and International Humanitarian Law: [international seminar], Sanremo, Italy, 15 February 2008, Sanremo, February 2008, 24 pp.

KRUTZSCH Walter & TRAPPS Ralph (eds), A Commentary on the Chemical Weapons Convention, Dordrecht, M.Nijhoff, 1994, 543 pp.

SOLOMON Brian (ed.), Chemical and Biological Warfare, New York, Wilson, 1999, 158 pp.

Further reading :

BAUDENDISTEL Rainer, “Force Versus Law: The International Committee of the Red Cross and Chemical Warfare in the Italo-Ethiopian War 1935-1936”, in IRRC, No. 322, March 1998, pp. 81-104 

FENWICK Charles G., “New Developments in the Law Concerning the Use of Conventional Weapons in Armed Conflict”, in CYIL, Vol. 19, 1981, pp. 229-256.

GASPARINI Giovanni & RONZITTI Natalino (eds), The Tenth Anniversary of the CWC’s Entry into Force: Achievements and Problems, Roma, Istituto Affari Internazionali, December 2007, 128 pp.

HUNT Cecil, “The Potential Contribution of the Chemical Weapons Convention to Combating Terrorism”, in MJIL, Vol. 20/3, 1999, pp. 523-535.

YUZON E.F.J., “Deliberate Environmental Modification Through the Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons: Greening the International Laws of Armed Conflict to Establish an Environmentally Protective Regime”, in American UniversityJournal of International Law and Policy, Vol. 11, 1996, pp. 793-846.


Source URL: https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/chemical-weapons

Links
[1] https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/biological-or-bacteriological-weapons
[2] https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/means-warfare
[3] https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/weapons
[4] https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/conduct-hostilities
[5] https://casebook.icrc.org/law/conduct-hostilities#iii_2_d
[6] https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule74
[7] https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule75
[8] https://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule76
[9] http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/280
[10] http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/553
[11] https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/switzerland-prohibition-use-chemical-weapons
[12] https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/unicrc-use-chemical-weapons
[13] https://casebook.icrc.org/case-study/iraq-battle-mosul