180 Countries Now Uphold the Chemical Weapons Ban; The Central African Republic Ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 25 September 2006; www.opcw.org
The Central African Republic will become the 180th State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention on 20th October 2006. This will happen 30 days after it deposited its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention with the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 20 September 2006. The Convention now covers 98% of the global population. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) implements the Chemical Weapons Convention. To ensure a complete, global ban on these weapons, the OPCW is pursuing an Action Plan to acquire every State’s membership in the Organisation by 2007. Since the Action Plan was launched in October 2003, ten African States have become OPCW Member States: Libya, Chad, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Liberia, the Comoros and the Central African Republic. With the Central African Republic’s ratification of the Convention, 48 of the 53 African States are OPCW Member States. The Central African Republic’s ratification of the Convention confirms the global validity of this multilateral instrument, which prohibits the development, production, stockpiling, use or transfer of chemical weapons, and promotes international security through the verified elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. This most recent ratification also meets the milestone to acquire 180 States Parties to the Convention by December 2006, which the Tenth Conference of the CWC States Parties had set in December 2005. As an OPCW Member State, the Central African Republic will benefit from the OPCW’s international cooperation and assistance programmes that have provided specialized training and support to over 5,500 national implementers of the CWC around the world. This support programme enhances the national capacity to implement the Convention and to engage in the peaceful uses of chemistry. The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. Adherence to the Convention contributes to global peace and security by verifiably eliminating an entire category of weapons of mass destruction within agreed timelines. The Convention’s universal and effective implementation provides concrete benefits for all OPCW Member States. The Convention's implementing agency, the OPCW, aims to achieve four principal objectives: to eliminate chemical weapons; to prevent their re-emergence and spread; to provide assistance and protection upon any State Party’s request in the event of the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons; and to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry. The OPCW urges the remaining six Signatory States that have not yet ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention and the remaining nine States that have not acceded to the treaty to do so as soon as possible.

The OPCW Hosts the UN Disarmament Fellows
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 25 September 2006; www.opcw.org
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons held a two-day seminar for the United Nations Disarmament Fellowship on 21 and 22 September 2006 at its Headquarters in The Hague as a part of continuing disarmament education effort. The Fellowship numbers 30 Fellows in this year, representing Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Chile, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Georgia, Guinea, India, Iran, Japan, Latvia, Liberia, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Syria, Turkey, United States of America, and Zimbabwe. The Fellows received an extensive briefing in all aspects of the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the global chemical weapons ban, by all 179 CWC States Parties. The CWC’s primary goal is to achieve a world free of chemical weapons. The OPCW Member States have pledged to exclude completely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons, through the implementation of the provisions of the CWC for the sake of all mankind. During this two-day event, the Disarmament Fellows received detailed briefings on a range of topics, including the mission and work of the OPCW, the status of implementation of the CWC, implementing legislation and enforcement of the CWC, the work of the OPCW Policy-Making Organs, the verification regime of the CWC, operational aspects of on-site inspections, exports and imports regulations under the CWC, and the OPCW’s role in preventing chemical terrorism, as well as the status and purpose of the programmes to support national implementation, international cooperation, assistance and protection and the 10th Anniversary of the entry into force of the CWC. The Disarmament Fellows also had an opportunity to visit of the OPCW Laboratory to familiarize themselves with OPCW inspection equipment, and the types of analytical tasks that are undertaken by the OPCW Laboratory.

OPCW Director-General Attends Seventh U.N. High-Level Meeting
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 25 September 2006; www.opcw.org
On 22 September 2006, the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, attended the Seventh High-Level Meeting with Regional and Other Governmental Organisations, hosted in New York by United Nations Secretary-General, H.E. Mr Kofi Annan. The focus of this year’s meeting related to proposals for cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations on “How Regional and Other Intergovernmental Organizations Can Help Solve Current and Long-standing Regional Crises: Capacity to Prevent, Respond and Rebuild after Crises”. Director-General Pfirter in his remarks to the gathering noted the importance of this event as it provides an opportunity for an exchange of views and experience between different organizations in dealing with issues of global significance, including threats to peace and security. These threats call for a rapid and coordinated response at both the national, regional and international levels. Director-General Pfirter provided an overview of the OPCW’s efforts to contribute to the common goal of a sustainable, peaceful, and secure world through the effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which entails the complete elimination of chemical weapons by all States, large and small, possessor and non-possessor alike, and to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons.