Novichok nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War emerged as a lethal tool due to their use in attempted assassinations recently. Two such attempts involving deadly Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury, UK (2018) and Omsk, Russia (2020) raised doubts about Russia’s existing tactical CW arsenal.
Myanmar has once again faced accusations of having a clandestine chemical weapons capability and non-compliance, despite the country’s efforts to fulfil its obligation under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Even though Myanmar has rejected the latest US allegations, the questions regarding its intact and existing buildings at Tonbo Site and the suspicions about a clandestine chemical weapons factory in Pauk Township will haunt the authorities in Myanmar to come clean before the International community.
The nerve agent Novichoks poisoning episode in United Kingdom once again put a question mark against the efficacy of the international arms control regime such as Chemical Weapons Convention. The Novichoks events involving a former Russian spy and his daughter as victims, triggered a diplomatic crisis and a pitched geopolitical manoeuvring as fingers pointed at Russian agency as the chemical agent in question was originally developed to circumvent the international arms control regime by the country in the 1980s and stockpiled for possible tactical use, such as State sponsored assassinations.
The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIS) Jihadist group's indiscriminate use of chemical weapons or agents against civilan and military targets in the last few years violates every international and humanitarian laws. It has not only used the weapons in its violent campaigns, but has attempted to build full-fledged chemical arsenal within its controlled territories which makes it virtually the first non-state actor pursue chemical weapon for military purposes.
In 2017, there have been two unrelated events where nerve agent have been used. This calls for close examination as the nerve agents are banned but can still be easily manufactured and are potent.
In April 2016 the Preparatory Committee meeting for the Eighth Review Conference was concluded. This will be followed by another meeting in August 2016. Two major points were discussed during the April meeting, the issue of science and technology and effective inter-sessional process.
There has been an increase in speculations surrounding the possible use of chemical and biological weapons in the aftermath of Paris massacre. These fears and speculations are not random or isolated. They emerge from events in the war theatres of Iraq and Syria that witnessed increasing use of chemical weapons such as chlorine and mustard gas against civilians and military alike across the globe after the outbreak of Ebola virus.
In the two months of April and May (2012), over a hundred schoolgirls and teachers were affected by poisoned drinking water and contaminated air at these high schools. Periodic attacks against students, teachers and schools using various methods are in practice since the Taliban was ousted by the US led allied forces.
Throughout the history of warfare attempts have been made to use chemical agents as weapons of war. Most attempts were unsuccessful until the growth of the chemical industry during the latter-half of the 19th century. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the first military chemical agents were already in the arsenals of the major powers.
The old arguments against the effectiveness of biological warfare still apply. The effects of novel organisms would still be delayed, unpredictable, and difficult to control. In military terms, any advance is almost certainly not a matter of the routine use of bio-technology. Whatever the fact, this double edged weapon still acts like a deterrent against any kind of conventional attack. Empirical evidence suggests that the likelihood of such a war between technologically advanced states is remote as since 1945, the biological weapons have been used only in situations where the victims were unprotected and unable to retaliate.
