The Hague, 9 June 2003

Basic Course for National Authorities Completed

The Basic Course for personnel of National Authorities, responsible for the national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), held from 2 to 6 June 2003, concluded. The course’s objective was to increase the ability of States Parties to comply with the obligations they have assumed.

In total, 38 participants from 38 States Parties (Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Guyana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Latvia, Lesotho, The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, Malaysia, Malawi, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Oman, Palau, Peru, Portugal, The Philippines, Samoa, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Timor Leste, Trinidad And Tobago, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe) were able to participate in this course.

The course’s curriculum included an overview of the current status of implementation of the Convention, including important outstanding issues. In addition, the course offered the participants the opportunity to develop a detailed understanding of the legislative requirements for effective and uniform implementation of the Convention at the national level, the export and import provisions of the Convention, the compilation of data and the submission of declarations under Article VI (Activities not Prohibited) of the Convention, the industrial verification regime, and the National Authority support programmes offered by the Secretariat.

The basic objective of the course is to assist States Parties in building their administrative and expert capacity to enforce the Convention and to eventually achieve self-sufficiency in this area. As the OPCW Director-General noted in his address to the course’s graduates, “Many of your countries struggle with limited resources, while assuming the complex responsibility of fulfilling all of the Convention’s requirements. We are well aware of this, and we will try to make our implementation support as comprehensive and far reaching as possible.” The Organisation’s support for States Parties implementing the Convention ranges from training to information products to facilitating networking among National Authorities.

Effective implementation is crucial, Mr Pfirter reiterated, “The credibility of the CWC regime and the attainment of its object and purpose may only be claimed when all States Parties are in a position to properly comply with their treaty obligations. In times like these, when terrorist threats loom over the world, appropriate implementation of the Convention acquires increased importance and relevance and constitutes an effective contribution to global security. All States Parties are likely to be involved in the trade in chemicals regulated by the Convention and thus are active partners in the global efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.”

The Chemical Weapons Convention, banning chemical weapons, entered into force in 1997 and mandated the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, OPCW, to eliminate chemical weapons forever, to verify the destruction of all declared chemical weapons, to monitor the non-diversion of dual-use chemicals, to facilitate the mutual assistance and protection afforded to all Member States, if any Member State is threatened by or attacked with chemical weapons, as well as to promote the peaceful uses of chemistry.