Chemical weapons are designed to injure and ultimately kill civilians and soldiers. Chemical weapons show no mercy to innocent children, agriculture and livestock, causing serious damage to local people's food sources and causing long-term effects. These weapons date back to 600 BC, when water supplies were poisoned, to the recent 2017 chemical attack in Syria. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe first successful attempt to ban the use of chemical weapons was made after the horrific scenes of the consequences of the use of chemical weapons after World War 1. The Geneva Protocol of 1925, signed by 196 States, prohibited " the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all similar liquids, materials or devices". Although it prohibited the use of chemical weapons, the 1925 document did not address the production, storage, testing, and transfer of prohibited weapons. After World War II, numerous attempts were made to go further with the ban on chemical weapons. The last and most successful was the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. The goal of the CWC is the total disarmament of chemical weapons producing facilities. As of January 2017, 69,059 of the 72,524 (95%) tons of chemical agent have been verifiably destroyed. Over 57% (4.97 million) of the ammunition and chemical containers were destroyed. Verification of the CWC is entrusted to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague. Under the Convention, inspections of States Parties are regularly carried out to verify compliance. The fundamental principles of Spain, as a permanent member of the United Nations, are the protection of peace and stability, the promotion of human rights and the creation of the necessary security conditions for the adequate development of people, institutions and the State. Spain is deeply concerned about the use of chemical weapons and has always affirmed the need for immediate disarmament. Spain was the first European Union country to sign and ratify it in August 1994. On 13 May 1997, Spain established the National Authority for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (Spanish acronym: ANPAQ), responsible for managing the terms of this treaty (Royal 663/1997). Investments in new laboratories and research facilities have increased the analytical capacity for substances relevant to the Chemical Weapons Convention. These analytical laboratories are under the auspices of the CWC and follow a course coordinated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Laboratory for the Verification of Chemical Weapons (LAVEMA). The new OPCW project was supported with a voluntary contribution from the Spanish government. Spain also supported the destruction of Libyan chemical weapons in 2017. By 2018 Spain responded to the OPCW's request, providing manpower, technical assistance and funding. The weapons were finally destroyed in Germany in 2018. This operation demonstrates Spain's commitment to international peace and security, as well as its willingness to contribute with the international community towards a world free of chemical weapons. Even though the CWC has functioned quite efficiently, there are still issues facing the global community. One of these is the failure to enforce its provisions on countries that have not yet ratified the treaty, including Egypt, North Korea, South Sudan and Israel. Furthermore, failure to apply from