OPCW holds training exercise on chemical decontamination, rescue operations in Buenos Aires

A training exercise designed to teach participants on the use of individual protective equipment, chemical containment, rescue operations, forensic techniques, and decontamination procedures was recently held in Buenos Aires, Argentina and hosted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The training course held various exercises of increasing difficulty to enhance each participant’s skills in the incident command system approach for managing chemical emergencies.

Mariano Simón-Padrós, who serves as Argentina’s Executive Secretary of the National Authority to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke on the threat that non-state actors pose to the implementation of the CWC and emphasized the need for each country to be prepared in the event of a chemical weapons attack.

Participants represented 17 States Parties to the CWC, including Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

OPCW said the next phase of the training exercise will take place in Brazil in August.

OPCW serves as the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention. Entered into force in 1997, the convention represents the most-successful disarmament treaty in history targeting an entire class of weapons. To date, approximately 95 percent of all chemical weapons stockpiles declares by OPCW’s 192 member states have been destroyed under the organization’s verification.