The Hague, 11 November 2004

Commemorating the Victims of Chemical Warfare

On the eighty-sixth 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 2004.

Ieper holds a special significance for the Organisation since chemical weapons were 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 commemorate the victims of this reprehensible form of warfare, the Organisation has named its Executive Council chamber the Ieper Room.

In his address on behalf of the Organisation, following the commemoration ceremony at Menin Gate in Ieper, OPCW Deputy Director-General, Mr Brian Hawtin, emphasised the importance of the occasion, stating, "Remembering the victims at Ieper is profoundly important for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The memory of this first, global conflict serves to steel the resolve of the 167 countries that have renounced chemical warfare to achieve the goals of a world free from chemical weapons."