U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, marking the 10th anniversary of the global treaty against chemical weapons, on Thursday stressed that genuine disarmament can be accomplished through U.N.-backed cooperation.The 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) “was a milestone in international efforts to achieve a world free of chemical weapons,” Ban told a high-level meeting convened by the foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Poland. “The convention stands as a monument to the world's determination to eliminate one of the most inhumane weapons ever conceived,” the secretary-general said.Ban stated that the treaty was the first to be negotiated fully within a multilateral forum, and that “real disarmament is possible through collective action within the framework of the United Nations.”The world's support for disarmament and the ban on chemical weapons is growing, and the 182 signatories to the CWC represent 98 percent of the global population, the secretary-general said.However, Ban noted that some countries still have not ratified the CWC. “Instead of competing in a race to acquire more arms, we must all work together in a race to achieve full universal membership of the chemical-weapons treaty,” he said.The secretary-general praised the successful verification of the destruction of chemical-weapons stockpiles. “The lesson is that international verification is beneficial, both to the security of all states and to legitimate commerce. As disarmament advances, the world advances,” he said.
