Geneva Protocol

For other uses, see Geneva Protocol (disambiguation).

Geneva Protocol

Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare
Drafted	17 June 1925
Signed	17 June 1925
Location	Geneva
Effective	8 February 1928
Condition	Ratification by 65 states
Signatories	38
Parties	138
Depositary	Government of France
Full text
Geneva Protocol to Hague Convention at Wikisource

The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the first use of chemical and biological weapons. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929. The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

It prohibits the use of chemical weapons and biological weapons, but has nothing to say about production, storage or transfer. Later treaties did cover these aspects—the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

A number of countries submitted reservations when becoming parties to the Geneva Protocol, declaring that they only regarded the non-use obligations as applying to other parties and that these obligations would cease to apply if the prohibited weapons were used against them.

History

In the 19th century Great Britain used chemical weapons at war and others planned to use it. In the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 the use of dangerous chemical agents were outlawed. In spite of this, chemical warfare was done in large scale in the First World War. Already in 1914 France used teargas. The first large scale application was by the German Empire in Ypres, Kingdom of Belgium in 1915, when chlorine gas was released as a defensive measure at a Canadian led attack leaving lots of wounded and a few killed. After the introduction, most warfaring countries engaged in a chemical arms race, including Great Britain, Russia, Austria-Hungary, USA and Italy. It resulted in a vast range of horrific chemicals affecting lungs, skin, or eyes, and some were intended to be lethal on the battle field, like hydrogen cyanide, and efficient methods of deploying agents were invented. At least 124 000 tons was produced during the war. In 1918 about one grenade out of three was filled with dangerous chemical agents. As protective equipment developed, also the technology to destroy such equipment became a part of the race of armament. About 1% of the fatalities and 4% of woundings of the Great War can be attributed to the use of gas, but the terror inflicted on the soldiers was an even bigger effect.

The Treaty of Versailles included some provisions that banned Germany from either manufacturing or importing chemical weapons. Similar treaties banned the First Austrian Republic, the Kingdom of Bulgaria, and the Kingdom of Hungary from chemical weapons, all belonging to the losing side, the Central powers. Russian bolsheviks and Britain continued the use of chemical weapons in the Russian Civil War and the Britons probably in the Middle East 1920.

Three years after World War I, the Allies wanted to reaffirm the Treaty of Versailles, and in 1922 the United States introduced the treaty on the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare, known as the Washington Treaty. The four of the war victors, United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Japan, gave consent for ratification but it failed to enter into force as the French Third Republic objected to the submarine provisions of the treaty and thus the treaty failed.

At the 1925 Geneva Conference for the Supervision of the International Traffic in Arms the French suggested a protocol for non-use of poisonous gases. The Second Polish Republic suggested the addition of bacteriological weapons. It was signed on 17 June.

Trespasses

Several countries have deployed or prepared chemical weapons in spite of the treaty. Spain and France in the Rif War before it came into effect 1928. Italy against Abyssinia 1935 (mustard gas), Japan against China 1938-41, Iraq against Iran and Kurds 1980-88 (mustard gas, sarin, VX etc.).

In the Second World War, the USA, Great Britain and Germany prepared the resources to deploy chemical weapons, stockpiling tons of them, but refrained from their use due to the balance of terror: the probability of horrific retaliation. Great Britain collaborated with USA in the development of the weapons. Soviet Union kept their development secret but they did have the facilities to produce chemical weapons. After the war thousands of tons of shells and containers with tabun and sarin and other chemical weapons were disposed of at sea by the allies.

Historical assessment

Eric Croddy, assessing the Protocol in 2005, took the view that the historic record showed it had been largely ineffectual. Specifically it did not prohibit:

• use against not-ratifying parties
• retalliation using such weapons, so effectively making it a no-first-use agreement
• use within a state’s own borders in a civil conflict
• research and development of such weapons, or stockpiling them

Despite the U.S. having been a proponent of the protocol, the U.S. military and American Chemical Society lobbied against it, causing the U.S. Senate not to ratify the protocol for 50 years.

State parties

Parties to the Geneva Protocol

  Parties with no reservations

  Parties with withdrawn reservations

  Parties with implicit reservations

  Parties with unwithdrawn reservations limiting the applicability of provisions of the Protocol

  Non-parties

To become party to the Protocol, states must deposit an instrument with the government of France (the depositary power). Thirty-eight states originally signed the Protocol. France was the first signatory to ratify the Protocol on 10 May 1926. El Salvador, the final signatory to ratify the Protocol, did so on 26 February 2008. As of May 2013, 138 states have ratified, acceded to, or succeeded to the Protocol, most recently Moldova on 4 November 2010.

Reservations

A number of countries submitted reservations when becoming parties to the Geneva Protocol, declaring that they only regarded the non-use obligations as applying to other parties to the Protocol and that these obligations would cease to apply with respect to any state, or it's allies, which used the prohibited weapons. Several Arab states also declared that their ratification did not constitute recognition of, or diplomatic relations with, Israel, or that the provision of the Protocol were not binding with respect to Israel. Subsequently, numerous states, including the former Czechoslovakia prior to its dissolution, have withdrawn their reservations and are now fully bound by the provisions of the Protocol.

According to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties, states which succeed to a treaty after gaining independence from a state party "shall be considered as maintaining any reservation to that treaty which was applicable at the date of the succession of States in respect of the territory to which the succession of States relates unless, when making the notification of succession, it expresses a contrary intention or formulates a reservation which relates to the same subject matter as that reservation." While some states have explicitly either retained or renounced their reservations inherited on succession, states which have not clarified their position on their inherited reservations are listed as "implicit" reservations.

Party	Signed	Deposited	Reservations	Notes
Afghanistan		9 December 1986	—
Albania		20 December 1989	—
Algeria		27 January 1992
Angola		8 November 1990
Antigua and Barbuda		1 January 1989	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Argentina		12 May 1969	—
Australia		24 May 1930	Withdrawn in 1986.
Austria	17 June 1925	9 May 1928	—
Bahrain		9 December 1988
Bangladesh		20 May 1989
Barbados		16 July 1976	Withdrew the reservations made by the United Kingdom on their succession to the Protocol.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Belgium	17 June 1925	4 December 1928	Withdrawn in 1997.
Benin		9 December 1986	—
Bhutan		19 February 1979	—
Bolivia		14 January 1985	—
Brazil	17 June 1925	28 August 1970	—
Bulgaria	17 June 1925	7 March 1934	Withdrawn in 1991.
Burkina Faso		3 March 1971	—
Cambodia		15 March 1983		The Protocol was ratified by the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea in exile in 1983. 13 states (including the depositary France) objected to their ratification, and considered it legally invalid. In 1993, the Kingdom of Cambodia stated in a note verbale that it considered itself bound by the provisions of the Protocol.
Cameroon		20 July 1989	—
Canada	17 June 1925	6 May 1930	Withdrawn in 1991 as regards bacteriological agents, and completely withdrawn in 1999.
Cape Verde		15 October 1991	—
Central African Republic		31 July 1970	—
Chile	17 June 1925	2 July 1935	Withdrawn in 1991.
China		24 August 1929	Made on succession.	Ratified by the Republic of China in 1929, the People's Republic of China succeeded to the Protocol in 1952.
Costa Rica		13 February 2009	—
Côte d'Ivoire		27 July 1970	—
Croatia		18 December 2006	—
Cuba		24 June 1966	—
Cyprus		12 December 1966	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Czech Republic		17 September 1993	—	Succeeded from Czechoslovakia.
Denmark	17 June 1925	5 May 1930	—
Dominican Republic		8 December 1970	—
Ecuador		16 September 1970	—
Egypt	17 June 1925	6 December 1928	—
El Salvador	17 June 1925	26 February 2008	—
Equatorial Guinea		20 May 1989	—
Estonia	17 June 1925	28 August 1931	Withdrawn in 1999.
Ethiopia	17 June 1925	7 October 1935	—
Fiji		21 March 1973	Retained the United Kingdom's reservations on their succession to the Protocol.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Finland	17 June 1925	26 June 1929	—
France	17 June 1925	10 May 1926	Withdrawn in 1996.
Gambia		5 November 1966	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Germany	17 June 1925	25 April 1929	—
Ghana		3 May 1967	—
Greece	17 June 1925	30 May 1931	—
Grenada		20 May 1989	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Guatemala		3 May 1983	—
Guinea-Bissau		20 May 1989	—
Holy See		18 October 1966	—
Hungary		11 October 1952	—
Iceland		2 November 1967	—
India	17 June 1925	9 April 1930
Indonesia		21 January 1971	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the Netherlands.
Iran		5 November 1929	—
Iraq		8 September 1931
Ireland		29 August 1930	Withdrawn in 1972.
Israel		20 February 1969
Italy	17 June 1925	3 April 1928	—
Jamaica		28 July 1970	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Japan	17 June 1925	21 May 1970	—
Jordan		20 January 1977
Kenya		6 July 1970	—
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of		4 January 1989
Korea, Republic of		4 January 1989	Reservation 2 withdrawn in 2002 as regards biological agents covered by the BWC.
Kuwait		15 December 1971
Laos		20 May 1989	—
Latvia	17 June 1925	3 June 1931	—
Lebanon		17 April 1969	—
Lesotho		10 March 1972	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Liberia		17 June 1927	—
Libya		29 December 1971
Liechtenstein		6 September 1991	—
Lithuania	17 June 1925	15 June 1933	—
Luxembourg	17 June 1925	1 September 1936	—
Madagascar		2 August 1967	—
Malawi		14 September 1970	—
Malaysia		10 December 1970	—
Maldives		27 December 1966	—
Malta		15 October 1970	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Mauritius		8 January 1971	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Mexico		28 May 1932	—
Moldova		4 November 2010	—
Monaco		6 January 1967	—
Mongolia		6 December 1968	Withdrawn in 1990.
Morocco		13 October 1970	—
Nepal		9 May 1969	—
Netherlands	17 June 1925	31 October 1930	Withdrawn in 1995.
New Zealand		24 May 1930	Withdrawn in 1989.
Nicaragua	17 June 1925	5 October 1990	—
Niger		5 April 1967	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from France.
Nigeria		15 October 1968
Norway	17 June 1925	27 July 1932	—
Pakistan		15 April 1960	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from India.
Panama		4 December 1970	—
Papua New Guinea		2 September 1980	Retained Australia's reservations on their succession to the Protocol.	Succeeded from Australia.
Paraguay		22 October 1933	—
Peru		13 August 1985	—
Philippines		8 June 1973	—
Poland	17 June 1925	4 February 1929	—
Portugal	17 June 1925	1 July 1930	Withdrawn in 2002.
Qatar		18 October 1976	—
Romania	17 June 1925	23 August 1929	Withdrawn in 1991.
Russia		5 April 1928	Withdrawn in 2001.	Ratified as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Rwanda		11 May 1964	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from Belgium.
Saint Kitts and Nevis		15 November 1989	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Saint Lucia		21 December 1988	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		24 March 1999	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia		27 January 1971	—
Senegal		15 June 1977	—
Serbia		3 June 2006	Implicit on succession. Announced their withdrawal of the reservation in 2010, but has not notified the depositary.	Succeeded from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which had ratified the treaty as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Sierra Leone		20 March 1967	—
Slovakia		22 September 1993	—	Succeeded from Czechoslovakia.
Slovenia		8 April 2008	—
Solomon Islands		1 June 1981	Retained the United Kingdom's reservations on their succession to the Protocol.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
South Africa		24 May 1930	Withdrawn in 1996.
Spain	17 June 1925	22 August 1929	Withdrawn in 1992.
Sri Lanka		20 January 1954	—
Sudan		17 December 1980	—
Swaziland		23 July 1991	—
Sweden	17 June 1925	25 April 1930	—
Switzerland	17 June 1925	12 July 1932	—
Syria		17 December 1968
Tanzania		22 April 1963	—
Thailand	17 June 1925	6 June 1931	—
Togo		5 April 1971	—
Tonga		19 July 1971	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Trinidad and Tobago		30 November 1970	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the United Kingdom.
Tunisia		12 July 1967	—
Turkey	17 June 1925	5 October 1929	—
Uganda		24 May 1965	—
Ukraine		7 August 2003	Implicit on succession.	Succeeded from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
United Kingdom	17 June 1925	9 April 1930	Reservation 2 withdrawn in 1991 as regards biological agents covered by the BWC, and reservations completely withdrawn in 2002.
United States of America	17 June 1925	10 April 1975
Uruguay	17 June 1925	12 April 1977	—
Venezuela	17 June 1925	8 February 1928	—
Viet Nam		15 December 1980
Yemen		17 March 1971	Made in a second instrument of accession submitted on 16 September 1973.	Ratified as the Yemen Arab Republic. Also ratified by the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen on 20 October 1986, prior to Yemeni unification in 1990.

  Parties with no reservations

  Parties with withdrawn reservations

  Parties with implicit reservations

  Parties with unwithdrawn reservations limiting the applicability of provisions of the Protocol

Reservations

Notes

Non-signatory states

The remaining UN member states, which have not acceded or succeeded to the Protocol, are:

• Andorra
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Bahamas
• Belarus
• Belize
• Bosnia
• Botswana
• Brunei
• Burundi
• Chad
• Colombia
• Comoros
• Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Republic of the Congo
• Djibouti
• Dominica
• Eritrea
• Gabon
• Georgia
• Guinea
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Honduras
• Kazakhstan
• Kiribati
• Kyrgyzstan
• Macedonia

• Mali
• Marshall Islands
• Mauritania
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Montenegro
• Mozambique
• Myanmar
• Namibia
• Nauru
• Oman
• Palau
• Samoa
• San Marino
• São Tomé and Príncipe

• Seychelles
• Singapore
• Somalia
• South Sudan
• Suriname
• Tajikistan
• Timor-Leste
• Turkmenistan
• Tuvalu
• United Arab Emirates
• Uzbekistan
• Vanuatu
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe

Chemical weapons prohibitions

Date	Name	Effect
1675	Strasbourg Agreement	The first international agreement limiting the use of chemical weapons, in this case, poison bullets.
1874	Brussels Convention on the Law and Customs of War	Prohibited the employment of poison or poisoned weapons, and the use of arms, projectiles or material to cause unnecessary suffering.
1899	1st Peace Conference at the Hague	European Nations prohibited "the use of projectiles whose sole purpose is the release of asphyxiating or harmful gases".
1907	2nd Peace Conference at the Hague	The Conference added the use of poisons or poisoned weapons.
1919	Treaty of Versailles	Prohibited poison gas in Germany (Added by E.Arms).
1922	Treaty relating to the Use of Submarines and Noxious Gases in Warfare	Failed because France objected to clauses relating to submarine warfare.
1925	Geneva Protocol	Prohibited the "use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices" and "bacteriological methods".
1972	Biological and Toxins Weapons Convention	No verification mechanism, negotiations for a protocol to make up this lack halted by USA in 2001.
1993	Chemical Weapons Convention Signed	Comprehensive bans on development, production, stockpiling and use of Chemical Weapons, with destruction timelines.

External links

• The text of the protocol
• Weapons of War: Poison Gas
• Frederic Joseph Brown (2005). "Chapter 3: The Evolution of Policy 1922-1939 / Geneva Gas Protocol". Chemical warfare: a study in restraints. Transaction Publishers. pp. 98–110. ISBN 1-4128-0495-7.