The Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants[1] is an international treaty that aims to protect human health and the environment from chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically and accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife. Those heavily polluting chemical substances are known as Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs. The Convention requires parties to take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment. POPs are organic chemicals substances which possess a particular combination of physical and chemical properties that are dangerous for the environment because:
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004 and at present there are 168 States Parties.[2] The Convention is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Convention is governed by the Conference of the Parties which meets every two years, and there are number of subsidiary bodies that carry out a variety of functions under the Convention, with the most prominent being the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC).[3] Recent developments: Additional of nine new chemicals to the Stockholm Convention The chemicals targeted by the Stockholm Convention are listed in the annexes of the Convention text. Annex A lists the chemicals that should be subject to measures envisaging its elimination by the Parties. Annex B lists chemicals that should have their production and use restricted by the Parties. Annex C lists chemicals that should be subject to measures aiming to reduce unintentional releases with the goal of continuing minimization.[4] Any Party may submit proposal for listing a new chemical in Annex A, B or C of the Convention. The POPs Review Committee evaluates the proposal and makes recommendation to the Conference of the Parties on such listings. Originally twelve POPs have been recognized by the Stockholm Convention as causing adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem. These substances became known as the "dirty dozen". They can be placed in three categories:
The nine chemicals that were added to the Stockholm Convention at the 4th Conference of the Parties (COP4) is a proof that the mechanism of the Stockholm Convention is able to expand by incorporating other chemicals. This is very relevant and important to the ensure that the international control of chemicals substances can expand based on existing mechanisms such as the existing multilateral environmental agreements. The COP 4 was the first opportunity to consider expanding the scope of the Convention based on the POPs Review Committee (POPRC) process, as described in the text of the convention. In fact, the recommendation to list nine new chemicals to Annexes A, B or C of the Stockholm Convention was the result of four meetings of the POPRC since the entry in force of the Convention. Some of the substances that were incorporated in the annexes of the Stockholm Convention were chemicals that are no longer in production, known as the 'dead chemicals'. Despite this fact, it was noted that the negotiations for the incorporation of new chemicals would represent technical and economical challenges for developing countries. Therefore a consensus was built based on a decision that also agrees on enhancing financial and technical assistance for the new chemicals. In a time that the Stockholm Convention is enhancing cooperation with the Basel and the Rotterdam Conventions[6] in order to improve the international management of chemicals and wastes substances, a trustful and efficient mechanism addressing risks identified in chemicals is an important pillar of the international environmental governance. Tarcisio Hardman Reis February 2010 Footnotes: 1 The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutant, May 23, 2001, entered into force May 17, 2004, UN Doc. UNEP/POPS/CONF/4, App. II (2001), reprinted in 40 ILM 532 (2001). 2 Status of Ratification of the Stockholm Convention available at http://chm.pops.int/Countries/StatusofRatification/tabid/252/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 3 Details on the work of the POPRC available at http://chm.pops.int/Convention/POPsReviewCommittee/AboutPOPRC/tabid/221/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 4 For further information see What are POPs?, available at http://chm.pops.int/Convention/ThePOPs/tabid/673/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 5 For further information see The nine new POPs under the Stockholm Convention, available at http://chm.pops.int/Programmes/NewPOPs/The9newPOPs/tabid/672/language/en-US/Default.aspx. 6 See T. Hardman Reis, The Secretariat of the Basel Convention ASIL RIO REPORT, August 2009, available at http://asil.org/rio/basel_sum09.html. |
Click on a keyword below to browse reports that are related to the topic:
Accountability
Afghanistan Biketawa Declaration Climate change Data protection Democracy Development Dispute settlement Environmental protection European Union Geneva Conventions Human rights Immigration Internally displaced persons Kyoto Protocol Non-refoulement Occupation Piracy Refugees Rule of law Security Use of force 
 Are you interested in learning more about the International Organizations Interest Group? Visit our portal here. To see upcoming events related to international law, click here.
 The Reports on International Organizations (RIO) is a publication of the International Organizations Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (ASIL). The views expressed in the publication are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Interest Group, the ASIL, or the international organizations profiled. |
ASIL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational membership organization founded in 1906 and chartered by Congress in 1950. ASIL holds Category II Consultative Status to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and is a constituent society of the American Council of Learned Societies. The Society is headquartered at Tillar House in Washington, D.C.
© 2010 American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20008
www.asil.org
© 2010 American Society of International Law, 2223 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington DC 20008
www.asil.org