Ban calls for destroying chemical weapons

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The head of the United Nations is calling on the international community to eliminate the threat of chemical weapons.

In a message delivered at the 13th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in the Netherlands, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that while progress has been made toward destroying stockpiles of chemical weapons, more work needs to be done, the United Nations reported.

Ban called on participants at the conference to continue pressing countries in possession of chemical weapons to verifiably destroy them ahead of 2012 deadlines established by the international community.

"I am hopeful that further progress will be made in each area covered by the (Chemical Weapons) Convention (on) chemical disarmament, non-proliferation, assistance and protection, and international cooperation," Ban said in a statement as delivered by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, director-general of the U.N. Office at Geneva.