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For a world free from chemical weapons

Bernard Bot and Rogelio Pfirter

Let us,today, renew our collective commitment to eliminate chemical weapons.

SOME TEN years ago, commuters of the Tokyo subway were suddenly confronted with horror. Eight plastic bags filled with sarin were punctured by members of a terrorist group, releasing 159 ounces of this odourless, lethal chemical agent. It killed 12 persons and injured several thousands. The era of chemical terrorism had effectively started. And it may not have ended.

By their nature and effects, chemical weapons make unprotected civilians their main target. To make matters worse, in contrast with nuclear weapons, which require considerable investment and infrastructure, the material necessary to produce simple chemical weapons is widely available. And, the technological and financial hurdles to be overcome are immensely less problematic than those posed by the illicit manufacture and use of biological or nuclear weapons.

In 1993, a Treaty was signed in Paris called the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the production of this type of weapon of mass destruction and helps to prevent its spread and use. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), established in The Hague in 1997, oversees the treaty's implementation.

The OPCW member states are under a permanent obligation to accept, on short notice, on-site military and industrial inspections, to confirm that activities performed at chemical installations are for peaceful purposes. They have also obliged themselves to provide assistance and protection in case of attack or threat of attack with chemical weapons. The treaty banning chemical weapons demands from the member states action at several levels, such as the establishment of a National Authority, passing effective legislation, and enacting export controls. In the past two years, over 100 countries have requested and received from the OPCW the support needed to apply the chemical weapons ban.

The Convention now covers over 90 per cent of the global population and 95 per cent of the relevant chemical industry in the world. The Treaty grants its 178 member states the best possible protection against the use or threat of use by others. Almost 200 inspectors are continuously at work verifying that the solemn commitments made by states to destroy chemical weapons are upheld, and checking that chemical industry worldwide is not misused to proliferate chemical weapons.

At a time of uncertainty, when new challenges loom over international peace and security, the OPCW emerges as an effective multilateral watchdog. On April 29, the state parties will celebrate the entry into force, nine years ago, of the Chemical Weapons Convention and the OPCW, and commemorate the first ever Remembrance Day for All Victims of Chemical Weapons. This will serve to remind us all of the horrors of the past, and, hopefully, to renew our collective commitment to make sure chemical weapons shall never again be used.

(The writers are, respectively, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.)

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