Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Ahmet Uzumcu warned that non-state actors are likely developing and using chemical weapons abroad during his keynote speech last week at the 19th International Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Conference in London.
Uzumcu also outlined OPCW initiatives to tackle the threat, including the creation of rapid response assistance teams ready to deploy on short notice to any of the 192 member states of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) upon request.
“A priority for the Chemical Weapons Convention is to complete the elimination of chemical weapon stockpiles,” Uzumcu said. “We are now moving into the final phase of this work, with over 92 percent of the world’s declared stockpiles now destroyed, including in the Syrian Arab Republic, although there are some issues still being addressed relating to the Syrian Arab Republic’s chemical weapons program. The focus of international efforts will then move to preventing the re-emergence of chemical weapons. The OPCW is already planning for this, but we still have a number of important challenges to overcome before we can reach this stage.”
The conference was organized by the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, part of the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense. The conference brings together an international group of specialists from military, scientific and chemical industry fields to discuss efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.