Niue deposited its instrument of accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 21 April 2005.
Niue will become the 168th State Party to the Convention on 21 May 2005, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of accession.
The OPCW seeks to achieve universal adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Niue is the fifteenth member of the Pacific Islands Forum to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), following Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The Pacific Island Forum has called, in its annual Forum communiqués, for universal adherence to the CWC. All States Parties, in concert with the United Nations, urge those States that have yet to accede or ratify the Convention to take action as soon as possible.
Niue’s accession to the OPCW confirms the universal validity of multilateral instruments banning chemical weapons, providing enhanced security for all Member States
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Convention’s implementing agency, the OPCW, aims to achieve four principal objectives: to eliminate chemical weapons and to prevent their re-emergence, to implement a credible non-proliferation regime, to provide international assistance and protection in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons, and to promote international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry.
14/2005