India Joins Australia Group

Key Information:

Date of join: January 19, 2018
Members of Australia Group: 43 (India is 43rd member of Australia Group)
Established year of Australia Group: 1985
Aim of Australia Group: Control over export and use of chemical and biological weapons

About Australia group

Australia group is an informal group of 43 countries whose primary aim is to minimize the risk of chemical and biological weapons proliferation. This group is known as ‘Australia Group’ as Australia was the first country who took initiative to control the spread of chemical and biological weapons.
Now, the Australia group’s members regulate the export of 54 compounds under the control list (this list made by Australia group). These chemical compounds are very harmful and can be used to make dangerous biological weapons.

The 43 members of Australia group are as follow:

1) Australia	16) Spain	32) Republic of Cyprus
2) Belgium	17) United Kingdom	33) Turkey
3) Canada	18) United States	34) Bulgaria
4) Denmark	19) Norway	35) Estonia
5) EU(European Union)	20) Switzerland	36) Latvia
6) France	21) Austria	37) Lithuania
7) Germany	22) Finland	38) Malta
8) Greece	23) Sweden	39) Slovenia
9) Ireland	25) Hungary	40) Ukraine
10) Italy	26) Iceland	41) Croatia
11) Japan	27) Czech Republic	42) Mexico
12) Luxembourg	28) Poland	43) India
13) Netherlands	29) Slovak Republic
14) New Zealand	30) Romania
15) Portugal	31) Republic of Korea (South Korea)

Note: China, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea are not member of Australia Group

Criteria to become member of Australia Group

First, to prevent the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons.
Secondly, the country, who wants to become a member of Australia group, should be a manufacturer of that chemical compound which is listed in control list of Australia group.
Accept all the guidelines for chemical and biological weapons and implement them.
If member countries do not follow guidelines of Australia group then legal penalties will be enforced on them.
Strengthen the Australia group in preventing chemical and biological weapons.

What are a Chemical weapon and Biological weapon?

Chemical weapons: Chemical weapons are considered as a weapon of gases. These weapons suffocate victims and can cause massive burning.
Biological weapons: Biological weapons are slow acting weapons. These types of weapon can cause diseases like anthrax, smallpox.

Why Australia Group formed?

During the Iran-Iraq war (1984), Iraq had used chemical weapons on Irani civilians, which is a violation of the 1925 Geneva protocol. According to Geneva protocol, no county can directly attack civilians.
In 1985, Australia initiated a meeting of countries with an aim of control the export of harmful chemicals and coordinating their national licensing measure and enhancing cooperation.
The first meeting of Australia group was joined by 15 countries including European Union in Brussels.

How the membership of Australia group is beneficial for India?

Now India becomes a member of Australia group. Benefits of membership of Australia group are as follow:

Now India can boost the relationship with Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) members, as many of members of NSG are also a member of Australia group and the good news is that China is not a part of this group. As we know, China is holding up India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
Now, India can also participate in farming rules to prevent the spread chemical and biological weapons.

India’s Progress

India is a member of Australia group, MTCR and Wassenaar group.

Groups	Established	India
NSG	1974	-
Australia Group	1985	43^rd member
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR)	1987	35^th member
Wassenaar Agreement	1996	42^nd member