OPCW Responsibility vis-à-vis Breaches of Confidentiality by its Staff
Subject Areas : PoliticsKeywords: International Liability, Breach of Commitment, Confidentiality Regime, Chemical Weapons Convention, Confidential Information ,
Abstract :
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is among few intergovernmental bodies in the field of disarmament, which despite wide access of members of its secretariat to information on chemical activities of member states, takes advantage of a different regime, compared to other international organizations, with regard to confidential affairs, especially regulations related to violations of the secretariat staff and responsibility of this international organization with regard to their violations. The main question of this paper is whether the regime governing breach of confidentiality related to Chemical Weapons Convention is different from regulations related to common international law, and whether the contents of this Convention especially that related to breaches or alleged breaches of confidentiality (Para. 22, Section D of the Annexes) can exonerate the secretariat staff of the OPCW? The author hypothesizes that regulations of the Chemical Weapons Convention constitute a big part of the rules and principles of international law, and the confidentiality regime of the OPCW as well as liability resulting from breach of these regulations is a function of this regime.