OPCW Academic Forum

On 18 and 19 September 2007, an Academic Forum, jointly organized by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the TNO Laboratories and the Clingendael Institute was held in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Forum was attended by almost 200 participants from all over the world, including academic experts, scientists, policy makers, diplomats and students. Representatives of the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, the World Health Organization, Pugwash International, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and Clingendael Institute were also present at this Forum.

In his welcoming remarks, the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, noted that the Forum offered a broad agenda that would help enhance the dialogue between policy-makers and professionals in the chemical sciences, including chemical engineering, which could further the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Director-General Pfirter stated that advances in science, the emergence of non traditional locations for the production of chemicals, and new or enhanced technologies that could be abused for hostile purposes could pose a challenge to the verification regime established under the Convention. He stressed that new responses are required to ensure that the objectives of the CWC are met to secure a world free from the threat of chemical weapons. Director-General Pfirter drew attention to the fact that the Convention is a unique instrument, and it remains one of the great accomplishments in the field of multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation.

In a message conveyed on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, H.E. Ambassador Sergio Duarte, the Chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Branch of the Office of Disarmament Affairs, Ms Gabriele Kraatz-Wadsack, stated that “in a few years, the world may well witness the global elimination of its first entire category of weapons of mass destruction. We have a duty to our ancestors and future generations to bring the world closer to achieving this great goal.”

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, H.E. Dr. Philip de Heer in his statement to the Academic Forum noted that the Convention is an example of treaty-based disarmament that bans a complete class of weapons and it has also established an Organisation to verify this destruction, to perform random inspections of industrial sites thus building confidence among States Parties.

In his keynote address to the Academic Forum, the former High Commissioner on National Minorities for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, H.E. Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, summarized the history of chemical disarmament, which culminated in the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the establishment of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The Academic Forum focussed on four major themes: chemical weapons destruction, non-proliferation of chemical weapons; the impact of advances in science and technology on the CWC’s verification; and the OPCW’s role in the future. The proceedings of these workshops will be published.

PR97 / 2007

Categories: 10th Anniversary, OPCW and the UN, Outreach