Chemical Weapons Convention
Country Date of accession/ entry into force Declared stockpile ( Schedule 1 ) ( tonnes ) % OPCW-verified destroyed ( date of full destruction )
Albania 29 April 1997 17 100% ( July 2007 )
South Korea 29 April 1997 3,000-3,500 100% ( July 2008 )
India 29 April 1997 1,044 100% ( March 2009 )
Libya 5 February 2004 25 100% ( January 2014 )
Syria ( government held ) 14 October 2013 1,040 100% ( August 2014 )
Russia 5 December 1997 40,000 100% ( September 2017 )
United States 29 April 1997 33,600 91%
Iraq 12 February 2009 remnant munitions 100% ( March 2018 )
Japan ( in China ) 29 April 1997 - ongoing
World stockpile of chemical weapons -- Progress of destruction
At the end of 2019 , 70,545 of 72,304 ( 97.51% ) metric tonnes of chemical agent have been verifiably destroyed . More than 57% ( 4.97 million ) of chemical munitions and containers have been destroyed . [ 22 ] Seven State Parties , namely Albania , an unspecified state party ( believed to be South Korea ) , India , Iraq , Libya , Russia and Syria have completed the destruction of their declared stockpiles . The United States is in the process of destruction and scheduled to complete in 2023 . [ 23 ] The destruction of Libya 's Category 1 chemical weapons was completed in 2014 ; destruction of its chemical weapon precursors was completed in November 2017 . [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Japan and China in October 2010 began the destruction of World War II era chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China by means of mobile destruction units and reported destruction of 35,203 chemical weapons ( 75% of the Nanjing stockpile ) . [ 23 ] [ 26 ]
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is an arms control treaty that outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. The full name of the treaty is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction and it is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The treaty entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the large-scale use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of chemical weapons. Very limited production for research, medical, pharmaceutical or protective purposes is still permitted. The main obligation of member states under the convention is to effect this prohibition, as well as the destruction of all current chemical weapons. All destruction activities must take place under OPCW verification. As of May 2018, 193 states have become parties to the CWC and accept its obligations. Israel has signed but not ratified the agreement, while three other UN member states (Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan) have neither signed nor acceded to the treaty. Most recently, the State of Palestine deposited its instrument of accession to the CWC on 17 May 2018. In September 2013 Syria acceded to the convention as part of an agreement for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. As of November 2018, 96.62% of the world's declared chemical weapons stockpiles had been destroyed.