The 129th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Saddened by the latest use of chemical weapons claiming hundreds of lives,

Condemning the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons,

Welcoming the constant hard work done by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to oversee and monitor the implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention),

Concerned by the continued existence of declared stockpiles amounting to more than 13,000 metric tonnes of chemical weapons,

Stressing the need for universal adherence to the ban on the use of chemical weapons,

Recalling the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which 189 States are party, and the 1925 Geneva Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare,

Noting the IPU resolution entitled Enforcing the responsibility to protect: The role of parliament in safeguarding civilians’ lives,

Recognizing the accession by the Syrian Arab Republic to the Chemical Weapons Convention, and stressing the need for full compliance with the provisions of the Convention,

1. Calls upon all parliaments to condemn the use of chemical weapons and contribute to an environment of zero tolerance for the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons;
2. Urges parliaments to request status reports from their national authorities responsible for the administration of the Chemical Weapons Convention;
3. Also urges parliaments to check their national legislation concerning chemical weapons and to exercise their oversight powers so as to ensure effective implementation;
4. Encourages parliaments to demand that their respective governments act to sign and ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention;
5. Calls upon parliaments to demand the speedy destruction of any declared stockpiles of chemical weapons, including abandoned stockpiles, and stresses the need for compliance with the deadlines stipulated in the Chemical Weapons Convention;
6. Requests parliaments to support and fully comply with the invaluable work being done by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons;
7. Urges all States that are not yet party to the Chemical Weapons Convention to ratify or accede to it as a matter of urgency and without any preconditions;
8. Encourages the international community to look for sources of funding to be used for the safe destruction of stockpiles of chemical weapons.

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^* The delegations of Algeria, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Lebanon, Nicaragua, Palestine, Peru, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic and Venezuela expressed reservations on the inclusion in this resolution of a reference in preambular paragraph 7 to the IPU resolution on "Enforcing the responsibility to protect: The role of parliament in safeguarding civilians' lives".

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