Mr Ian R Kenyon
It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing away of Mr Ian Kenyon, the Executive Secretary of the OPCW Preparatory Commission.
Ian Kenyon was a highly distinguished British diplomat and a respected international civil servant. He went to Edinburgh University to study chemical engineering, graduating with a first-class honours degree in 1962. In 1974 he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and after serving for two years as a First Secretary at the FCO in London he was posted to the UK Delegation at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
In 1979 he was promoted to Head of Chancery in Bogota, Columbia. After returning to London in 1982, the following year he became the Head of the Nuclear Energy Department in the FCO.
In 1986-87 Mr Kenyon was an Inspector with the Diplomatic Service Overseas Inspectorate and in 1988 returned to Geneva as the Deputy Leader of the UK Delegation at the Conference on Disarmament. Between 1988 and 1992, he led the UK delegation in New York at the United Nations Disarmament Committee and at the Partial Test Ban Treaty Amendment Conference.
In 1993, he took leave from the UK Diplomatic Service to serve as the Executive Secretary of the OPCW PrepCom in The Hague, a post he held until 1997 when he retired from the FCO.
Mr Kenyon then became a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, Southampton University. In 2003, he became, in addition, a Senior Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit at Sussex University. He was still working on chemical and nuclear disarmament issues almost up to the time of his death.
He co-edited two books: Deterrence and the Changing Security Environment (2006) and The Creation of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: A case study in the birth of an intergovernmental organization (2007). He also wrote a number of articles about arms control and disarmament dealing with biological and chemical weapon issues.
Mr Kenyon was a source of guidance and wisdom to his colleagues and a fine lecturer. His dedication to disarmament for over 30 years was an inspiration.
The OPCW family has lost an individual who contributed greatly to building the Organisation. His expertise in the field of international security and disarmament was greatly valued and he will be deeply missed by of those who knew him.