OPCW Director-General laying flowers at the Memorial Site. Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare (29 April 2009).
Today the OPCW commemorated the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare. 29 April is the date in 1997 on which the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force. A Permanent Memorial in The Hague symbolizes the ever-growing global will to eliminate chemical weapons and to establish a world free of chemical weapons.
The Chairman of the Conference of the States Parties of the OPCW opened the commemorative session in the Ieper Room and addressed the audience. Addresses were then given by H.E. Mr Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the OPCW; H.E. Mr Frank Heemskerk, Minister for Foreign Trade of the Netherlands; Mr Jozias van Aartsen, Mayor of The Hague. Participants then walked to the Memorial Site, where flowers were laid. A reception followed.