On 13 July 2004, the international inspectors that verify the Chemical Weapons Convention for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) completed 100,000 inspector-days.
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997, banning the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. Every country that joins the Convention renounces chemical weapons and ensures that they never re-emerge.
This week, the OPCW has dispatched 59 inspectors to 13 sites around the world, where they are verifying that chemical weapons are irreversibly destroyed, chemical weapons in storage are not diverted prior to destruction, former chemical weapons production facilities are inactive, as well as verifying the consistency of the industrial declarations submitted by the OPCW’s 164 Member States.
Since 1997, the OPCW’s 173 international inspectors have carried out over 1,800 inspections at 748 sites on the territory of 65 States party to the Convention.
When on mission, the OPCW inspectors sometimes work under hazardous conditions. 100,000 inspector-days were completed without a single work-related injury.
In the past seven years, OPCW inspectors have verified the destruction of 12% of the 71,000 metric tons of chemical agent and over a quarter of the 8 million munitions, containers and other items declared by States Parties.
OPCW Director General, Mr Rogelio Pfirter, congratulated the Inspectorate on behalf of the Member States, stating, “The OPCW’s inspectors are often on long missions, travelling thousands of kilometres to remote locations. There, these women and men, stand watch, guaranteeing that we all can enjoy the protection of the chemical weapons ban. We commend their professionalism and devotion to duty in performing the essential task of verification.”
32/2004