The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member states, has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands; it oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons.
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The treaty entered into force on 29 April 1997. It prohibits the use of chemical weapons, and also prohibits large-scale development, production, stockpiling, or transfer of chemical weapons or their precursors, except for very limited purposes. The main obligation of member states under the convention is to effect this prohibition, as well as the destruction of all current chemical weapons. All destruction activities must take place under OPCW verification.
José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 2002 over disagreements about how to address Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
Mari Carmen Aponte is an American attorney and diplomat who has served as the United States Ambassador to Panama in the Biden administration since November 2022. She previously served as acting assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs on May 5, 2016. She also served as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador from August 2010 until December 2011 and again from June 14, 2012, until December 2015. Before that she was serving as a member of the board of directors of Oriental Group, a major financial and banking services enterprise in Puerto Rico. President Obama also nominated her as the United States' permanent representative to the Organization of American States, but the Senate had not acted upon that nomination upon adjournment in December 2014.
Ahmet Üzümcü is a Turkish career diplomat, who previously served as the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for their "extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons". The award citation indicated the organization was awarded the prize, because they "have defined the use of chemical weapons as taboo under international law. Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons." The committee criticized Russia and the United States for not meeting the extended deadline for destruction of its chemical weapons, and noted that certain countries "are still not members". The OPCW was the 22nd organization to be awarded the prize.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2117 was adopted unanimously on 27 September 2013, in regard to the Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons during the Syrian civil war. It recalled United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1540, 2042 and 2043 and occurred on the sidelines of the General debate of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Under the Resolution, Syria had until mid-2014 to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal; and the Resolution also outlines plans for a transition. Despite a few hiccups, the OPCW reported that the destruction was largely on schedule.
The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria is a mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate some possible cases of the use of toxic chemicals in Syria during the civil war, including chlorine. The 21 August 2013 Ghouta chemical attack used sarin. The OPCW-Director General Ahmet Üzümcü announced the creation of the mission on 29 April 2014. This initial mission was headed by Malik Ellahi. The Syrian Government agreed to the Mission.
Richard Merrill Mills Jr. is an American diplomat serving as the United States ambassador to Nigeria since July 2024. He served as the United States deputy ambassador to the United Nations from 2020 to 2024 and, in that capacity, served as the U.S. Chargé d'Affaires and Acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations between January 20, 2021, and February 24, 2021, when Linda Thomas-Greenfield became ambassador.
The OPCW–The Hague Award is an annual award founded by the OPCW as a result of their being presented with the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. The purpose of the Award is to honour and recognize individuals and institutions that have significantly contributed towards the goal of a world free of chemical weapons.
Mary Whelan became Irish Ambassador to Austria on 2 October 2014.
Kyriacós P. Kouros is the head of the Cyprus Intelligence Service, and is scheduled to be the head of the President's Diplomatic Office.
Fernando Arias González is a Spanish diplomat, who currently serves as the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Dr. Khaldoun Talhouni is a Jordanian diplomat, who, from 2006 to 2008, served as secretary general of Jordan’s foreign ministry.
Laura Susan Hayes Holgate is an American diplomat who has served as the United States ambassador to the United Nations International Organizations in Vienna and to the International Atomic Energy Agency since 2022 and previously from 2016 to 2017.
Eric M. Javits is an American diplomat who served as the Ambassador and Permanent U.S. Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva from 2001 to 2003 and the United States Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons from 2003 to 2009. He is a member of the Council of American Ambassadors.
Michael R. Carpenter is an American diplomat who served as United States ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the Biden administration.
Bassam al-Sabbagh is a Syrian diplomat, former Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations in New York City, as well as former Syria's permanent representative to the United Nations Office at Vienna the United Nations Office at Vienna, its former permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and its former permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Adnan bin Haji Mohd Ja'afar is a diplomat from Brunei who is the incumbent ambassador to Belgium since 2022, East Timor from 2019 to 2020, and high commissioner to Australia in 2008. Additionally, he is also representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) since 2022.
