“Civilian Protection” was the theme of the annual Assistance and Protection Week of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which took place from 18 to 21 November 2002 at the OPCW’s headquarters in The Hague.
All Member States of the OPCW have committed themselves never to use chemical weapons. Yet protection against the use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons remains a crucial task for the Organisation. Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) obliges all States Parties to assist and protect their fellow States Parties in the event of the threat of use, or use, of chemical weapons against any of them.
The week commenced with the annual meeting of the OPCW’s Protection Network, in which a panel of 22 recognised experts drawn from 17 Member States, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Italy, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, participated. The primary task of this group is to advise and support the Organisation in its civilian protection programmes.
In his opening address, the Acting Director-General of the OPCW, Mr John Gee, noted that “The information presently available to the Secretariat in relation to protective programmes of Member States, although incomplete, seems to indicate that many Member States lack adequate protective capabilities. This makes it important for the Secretariat to develop its approach towards providing member states with adequate, appropriate and timely advice on their protective capacities.”
The meeting focused on the means to strengthen each Member State’s own capacity to protect its population against a chemical weapons attack. In addition, companies and research institutions from Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iran, The Netherlands, Russia and the UK displayed state-of-the-art, protection-related technology.
The presentations to the workshop included the following topics: the Dutch system of crisis and disaster management for protection against chemical weapons, the opportunities and limitations of Article X of the CWC, the Finnish experience in environmental control systems for civil protection, Canada’s capability to support the mission of protection against chemical weapons and efforts taken by The Netherlands’ Ministry of Defence to assist in civil defence in the event of a possible chemical weapons attack. Each of the chemical companies and research institutions presented an outline on their activities related to civilian protection.
The next OPCW Assistance and Protection Week 2003 is scheduled for 17-21 November 2003.
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