Chemical Weapons Convention Annual Conference Opens

The Eleventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is convening in The Hague from 5 to 8 December 2006.

The annual Conference is the highest decision-making body of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In this year, 127 of the 181 CWC States Parties are represented. In addition, Israel, one of the eight Signatory States, which have signed but not yet ratified the CWC, is attending the Conference as an Observer. Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, which neither signed nor ratified the CWC, are also attending the annual Conference.

A number of international organisations are also in attendance, including the United Nations, Council of the European Union, the League of Arab States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organisation for Migration. Chemical industry associations and non-governmental organisations are also observing the Eleventh Session.

The Conference unanimously elected H.E. Mr. Alfonso M. Dastis, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Spain to the OPCW, the new Chairman for the Eleventh Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In his opening address to the Conference, OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, stated that the OPCW had made significant progress in implementing an effective international ban on chemical weapons. He emphasized that through the Organisation’s implementation of the Convention, the development, manufacture, use and possession of these weapons is universally considered illegal. In urging the remaining fourteen States to join the Convention, Ambassador Pfirter reminded the Conference that excuses for avoiding this concrete step to enhance international peace and security can no longer be tolerated.

Ambassador Pfirter highlighted the importance of the decisions the Conference was deliberating and anticipated that the Eleventh Session would lay the groundwork to continue strengthening the Convention’s disarmament and non-proliferation regimes, as well as its essential programmes to render assistance, provide protection and foster the peaceful uses of chemistry.

During the course of the Conference, heads of delegation, including eleven Ministers, will address the Conference, reaffirming their Governments' unwavering commitment to the effective adherence to the CWC.

At its Eleventh Session, delegates are considering decisions on the extension of the final date for the total destruction of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles, including the two major possessor States Parties, the Russian Federation and the United Sates of America. The CWC accords the Conference the authority to grant a one-time, five year extension for the final destruction deadline. The extended final deadline stipulates that all chemical weapons declared to the OPCW must be eliminated by no later than 29 April 2012.

The delegations are also tasked to approve the OPCW’s programme of work and budget that includes verification activities to monitor chemicals weapons destruction and non-proliferation. The budget includes in addition major programmes to support States Parties in the complex task of national implementation, foster international cooperation in the peaceful uses of chemistry, and delivery of assistance and protection against threatened or actual attacks with chemical weapons.

To bring about the Convention’s universality and its full and effective implementation by all States Parties, the OPCW is pursuing two Action Plans that will be reviewed at this Conference.

PR92 / 2006

Categories: Conference of the States Parties