Title: The 1925 Geneva Protocol/ Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous, or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare.

Summary of Provisions:

The 1925 Geneva Protocol was a response to the use of poisonous gases in the First World War, prohibiting further use of such weapons. The Protocol concerns only their use between states and so "does not cover internal or civil conflicts" (http://fas-www.harvard.edu/~hsp/geneva.html). Many state parties held reservations to the Protocol as to the right of retaliatory use, making it effectively a no-first-use treaty for those states.

The Protocol recognised the significance of bringing together controls on chemical and biological weapons. While it prohibits the use of such weapons it does not prohibit their production, development and stockpiling hence the need for further treaties - the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and the 1991 Chemical Weapons Convention.

There is no verification mechanism contained within the Protocol and compliance is voluntary.

Summary of Development:

The Protocol was created during the Conference for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition held by the League of Nations in Geneva in 1925. It was opened for signature on the 17th June 1925 and entered into force on 8th February 1928. The Protocol has become a part of customary international law and is therefore considered to be binding not only on the state parties but on all states.

Many states signed in the years before the Second World War and there was a further surge in signatories from the 1960s onwards alongside decolonisation.

Many of the reservations that reserved the right to retaliatory use were withdrawn particularly following accession to the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. The Protocol has been supported by many United Nations Resolutions, highlighting its continued significance internationally. A conference was held in Paris in 1989 aiming to 'reaffirm the 1925 Geneva Protocol' and on its 75th Anniversary in June 2000, the Protocol was referred to by United States President Bill Clinton as, "A major step toward protecting the world from the dangers of weapons of mass destruction." (http://www.acronym.org.uk/47anniv.htm).

The Protocol has provided the basis for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention as well as some regional arms control agreements.

Current Status:

132 State Parties. Many previous reservations to the Protocol have been withdrawn, particularly in the past two decades. It continues to have widespread international support, but its prohibitions have been ignored by some signatories, notably Iraq in the 1980s.

Precursors:

Hague Declaration 29th July 1899.

1925 Geneva Protocol

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Related Summaries on the Genomics Gateway Site:

Biological Weapons Convention
Chemical Weapons Convention
Draft Convention on the Criminalisation of Biological and Chemical Weapons

Page last updated 26th March 2009.

Comments/enquiries to catherine.rhodes-2 'at' manchester.ac.uk