ORGANIZATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF
CHEMICAL-WEAPONS
SITE PUBLISHED BY
JOSEF MAJID JR
2000 ALUMNI ATTENDER
    HOME
Organization for the Prohibition Chemical Weapons

One of the foremost threats to global peace and security is the existence and use of chemical
weapons. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the international
organization that supervises compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which contains a
worldwide ban on chemical weapons. The OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons)  has inspectors who travel around the world to supervise compliance with the
regulations of the convention and the destruction of existing stocks of chemical weapons. The
OPCW's inspection teams are multinational in composition.

The Chemical Weapons Convention, which entered into force on April 1997 29th, is regarded as the
most complex multilateral disarmament treaty ever agreed. It took over twenty years of
negotiation before enough states were prepared to verify the convention. The improved relations
between the former Soviet Union and the United States played a particularly important role in
reaching this agreement. As of April 1999, 121 countries have ratified the convention, while 48
signatory countries have still to do so.

The Chemical Weapons Convention is directed at all existing stocks of chemical weapons and
production facilities anywhere in the world. The treaty prescribes that all chemical weapons and
production facilities must be destroyed within ten years. Routine inspections are conducted
regularly by the multinational inspection teams of the OPCW If there is sufficient reasonable
doubt surprise inspections can also be carried out on 48