On April 21, 2009 the Bahamas deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. On May 21, 2009 the Convention will enter into force for the Bahamas and it will be the 188th State Party to the CWC. This announcement comes only weeks after the Dominican Republic deposited its instrument of  ratification of the CWC, and during the past year Iraq,  Lebanon, and Guinea-Bissau have also joined.

The OPCW is quickly making progress towards it’s goal of univerality as now only 7 states, Israel, Myanmar, Angola, the People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, Somalia and the Syrian Arab Republic remain outside of the Convention.