OPCW Director General Ahmet Üzümcü receives the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 on behalf of the OPCW (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands) Hanoi (VNA) – The 20th anniversary of the enforcement of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) will bemarked on April 26 in The Hague, an occasion to honour global efforts, includingby Vietnam, to eradicate chemical weapons.
The event in the Netherlands, which will alsocelebrate 20 years of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW), will also promote cooperation in promoting the peaceful uses of chemistrywhile sharing experience to improve the OPCW’s activities.
The CWC was signed by 130 countries in Paris,France, on November 13, 1993 after more than two decades of negotiations. Ittook effect in 1997, leading to the establishment of the OPCW to ensure theimplementation of the convention.
The CWC requires states not to develop, produce,otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directlyor indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone; not to use chemical weapons; not toengage in military preparations for use of chemical weapons; not to assist,encourage, or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a stateunder the convention.
Each state is also required to destroy allchemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities it owns orpossesses or that are located in any place under its jurisdiction or control,as well as any chemical weapons it abandoned on the territory of another stateno later than 10 years after joining the convention.
The formation of the CWC and the OPCW opened anew chapter in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of massdestruction around the globe. For the first time, the world had a multilateralconvention on military disarmament that specifies a deadline for destroying allweapons of mass destruction.
Up to 192 countries which make up 98 percent ofthe world’s population have become OPCW members, including the five permanentmembers of the UN Security Council and nations with developed chemicalindustries.
Ambasador Ngo Thi Hoa, Vietnam's permanent representative at the OPCW, at a meeting of the OPCW Executive Council in March 2017 (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in the Netherlands) Under the OPCW’s inspection, nearly 95 percentof the 70,000 tonnes of the world’s declared chemical weapons have beendestroyed. Russia and the US expect to finish the work in 2020 and 2030,respectively.
The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 for the OPCW wasrecognition of the organisation’s efforts and contributions to internationalpeace and security.
Vietnam signed the CWC as soon as the conventionwas finished in 1993 and ratified it in August 1998. Since then, the countryhas proved an active member.
Cooperation between Vietnam and the OPCW hasbeen enhanced, especially in communications and technician training. Vietnamhas facilitated OPCW experts’ inspection of its chemical industry facilitiesand issued legal documents regarding the CWC implementation.
During a visit to the Southeast Asian nation in2006, then OPCW Director General Rogelio Pfirter said Vietnam was one of thecountries with the earliest and fullest legal system relevant to the CWCimplementation, which reflected the seriousness in realising the commitmentsmade by the Vietnamese Government when it signed the convention.
Since it was elected to the OPCW ExecutiveCouncil for 2016-2018, Vietnam has coordinated with other member states topromote the destruction of weapons of mass destruction, including chemicalweapons, supported the CWC adherence and other activities of the OPCW, condemnedthe use of chemical weapons, and underlined the need to protect countries’rights and legitimate interests in developing the chemical industry forpeaceful purposes.-VNA
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