The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed that the last chemical weapon from the stockpiles declared by all States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was verified as destroyed.
- The US President Joe Biden announced on July 7 that the United States has fully destroyed its decades-old stockpiles of chemical weapons, a milestone hailed as completing the elimination around the world of all known stores of the agents of mass death.
- The United States was the last of the signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention to complete the task of destroying their “declared” stockpiles, though some states are believed to maintain secret reserves of chemical weapons.
- Chemical Weapons Convention came into effect in 1997.
- The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons called the milestone a “historic success” of disarmament, more than one century after the uncontrolled use of chemical gases during World War I produced mass deaths and maiming of troops.
- The US had held for decades stores of artillery projectiles and rockets that contained mustard gases, VX and sarin nerve agents, and blister agents.
- Such weapons were condemned widely after their use with horrendous results in World War I.
- Currently four signatory countries are considered not in compliance on suspicion of having undeclared stockpiles: Myanmar, Iran, Russia and Syria.
OPCW
- As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons.
- Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
- For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
