On behalf of the Government of Peru and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the Director-General wishes to invite States Parties from the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC) to nominate representatives to participate in an assistance and protection course for instructors from the GRULAC region, which will take place from 3 to 7 September 2018 in Lima, Peru.
Aim
This course will help participating States Parties enhance the knowledge and skills of their national instructors involved in training first responders to cases of chemical attacks or incidents involving toxic industrial chemicals, and will be jointly organised by the Government of Peru and the Technical Secretariat (hereinafter “the Secretariat”).
The course will provide training for up to 20 instructors from institutions in the GRULAC region involved in the provision of regional assistance and protection and emergency response training under Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The course is expected to contribute to the enhancement of regional response capabilities as a whole, and is aimed at consolidating the Secretariat’s regional approach to assistance and protection capacity-building within the GRULAC region by providing updated information and skills to regional instructors. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage in an extensive information exchange and networking, specifically targeting practices and procedures related to assistance and protection training.
Content
The course will cover the following topics, among others:
- chemical warfare agents and toxic industrial chemicals (theoretical segment);
- protection of personnel and equipment during a chemical emergency;
- rescue and decontamination operations in contaminated areas; and
- appropriate responses and countermeasures during incidents involving chemical warfare agents or toxic industrial chemicals; and
- the didactics of emergency response training.