The Hague, 11 November 2003

Commemorating the Victims of Chemical Weapons

On the eighty-fifth anniversary of the end of the First World War, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was honoured to participate in a solemn commemoration ceremony in the city of Ieper, Belgium, on 11 November 2003.

Ieper holds a special significance for the Organisation since poison gas was first used on a mass scale on the battlefields of Ieper on 22 April 1915.

During the course of the First World War ninety thousand were killed by exposure to chemical weapons. To remember the victims of this heinous form of warfare, the Organisation has named its Executive Council chamber as the Ieper Room.

In his address, following the commemoration ceremony at Menin Gate in Ieper, the Director-General of the OPCW, Mr Rogelio Pfirter, emphasised the importance of the occasion, stating, “Armistice Day, the day of peace, serves to honour the victims of this horrific war, to honour the memories of all victims of chemical weapons…The memory of this catastrophic conflict serves to drive our mission, the shared commitment of 157 countries to eliminate for all time the possibility of the use of chemical weapons.”