On 10 December 2004, the fourth inspector-training course conducted by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was completed by nine trainee inspectors. The graduates are now the newest members of the OPCW Inspectorate, numbering 173 inspectors.
The six-week intensive OPCW inspector-training programme included a comprehensive series of lectures, provided by experienced practitioners in the field of chemical demilitarisation and industry verification; case studies and table-top exercises to provide an in-depth understanding of the entire inspection procedure; as well as field-training, exercising OPCW safety procedures and developing hands-on experience with the approved inspection equipment.
The Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland generously provided support for the inspector-training course.
OPCW Director-General Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter highlighted the considerable responsibility that inspectors must shoulder in effectively and impartially verifying Member States’ compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. The OPCW’s international inspectors play a crucial role in the global implementation of the chemical weapons ban by verifying both the irreversible destruction of the declared chemical weapons stockpile, as well as ensuring, together with Member States, that chemical weapons do not re-emerge.
The new inspectors join an international team, which has successfully completed 100,000 inspector days, having inspected 784 facilities in 68 States Parties, since the Entry into Force of the CWC in 1997.
68/2004