Outrage at Syria’s incendiary weapons use

Since 2010, Human Rights Watch has been calling on governments to review the 30-year-old international protocol on incendiary weapons to better protect civilians, but its message sharpened considerably ahead of the annual meetings of the Convention on Conventional Weapons held at the United Nations in Geneva on 14-15 November 2013. “Where’s the outcry?” the […]

2013 disarmament committee highlights

A breach of protocol occurred at the United Nations on 21 October, when applause erupted from the civil society gallery high up at the back of the newly renovated meeting room where the General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security was meeting. It came as New Zealand’s Ambassador Dell Higgie read the […]

Chemical weapons ban in the spotlight

On Monday, 14 October 2013, the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force for the Syrian Arab Republic, where hundreds of civilians were killed by the weapons less than two months earlier. The arrival of the convention’s 190th state party caps off a remarkable month for international efforts to eradicate chemical weapons and marks another […]