Demilitarisation
Elimination of chemical weapons stockpiles and chemical weapons production facilities subject to the verification measures provided for in the Convention.
News and articles related to chemical demilitarisation
Opening Statement by the Director-General to the Executive Council at its Fifty-fifth Session
20 February 2009The year has started very positively for the OPCW, with two new States Parties having joined the Chemical Weapons Convention. This brings the number of States Parties to this very successful Convention to 186. We had all greeted...
Multiple Uses of Chemicals: An Education Tool
28 November 2008Chemical processes determine who we are. Chemistry in the brain gives us our sense of being and helps to determine how we act. The oxygen we breathe is from chemical processes in plants, and many of the consumer products we buy...
The Threat of Chemical Weapons: Use by Non-State Actors
28 November 2008While the Cold War superpowers are slowly dismantling and disposing of their vast chemical weapons (CWs) arsenals, since 1991 through the outstanding and relentless efforts of the OPCW, the military threat from CWs has become...
Latest facts and figures
The 7 States Parties (A State Party,
Albania, India, Iraq, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the Russian Federation, and the United States of
America) which have declared chemical weapons must destroy 8.67
million items, including munitions and containers containing in total,
71,194 metric tonnes of extremely toxic chemical agents. Albania, India and a third country have completed destruction. By
comparison, a tiny drop of a nerve agent, no larger than the head of a pin, can kill an adult
human being within minutes after exposure.The OPCW verifies that the destruction process is
irreversible. At the same time, States Parties in the process of destroying chemical weapons
are obliged to place the highest priority on the safety of people and on protecting the
environment.
40,514, or
56.91%, of the world's declared stockpile of
71,194 metric tonnes of chemical agent have been verifiably destroyed. (As
at 31/01/2010)
3.93, or
45.33%, of the 8.67 million chemical
munitions and containers covered by the CWC have been verifiably destroyed. (As at
31/01/2010)
Chemical weapons declared and destroyed
| Chemical agent (metric tonnes) | Munitions/containers (million items) | |
|---|---|---|
| Declared | 71,194 | 8.67 |
| Destroyed | 40,514 | 3.93 |
Last updated : 31/01/2010 |
||
| States Parties which have declared Facilities | Declared Sites or Facilities | Inspections Conducted | Sites Inspected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical Weapons Production Facilities | 13 | 70 | 415 | 67 |
| Chemical Weapon Destruction Facilities | 6 | 37 | 1,241 | 37 |
| Chemical Weapons Storage Facilities | 7 | 38 | 414 | 36 |
| Abandoned Chemical Weapons | 3 | 35 | 52 | 25 |
| Old Chemical Weapons | 13 | 47 | 90 | 30 |
| Total | 227 | 2,212 | 195 |
- From Entry into Force of the CWC (April 1997) until 31/01/2010, the OPCW has conducted 3,964 inspections on the territory of 81 States Parties, including 2,212 inspections of chemical weapon-related sites. 195 chemical weapon-related sites have been inspected out of a total of 227 declared.
- 100% of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been inventoried and verified.
- 177 initial declarations have been received.
- 100% of the declared chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs) have been inactivated. All are subject to a verification regime of unprecedented stringency. 62 of the 70 CWPFs declared to the OPCW have been either destroyed (43) or converted for peaceful purposes (19). 13 States Parties have declared CWPFs: Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, France, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Japan, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the Russian Federation, Serbia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, and another State Party.