Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Frédéric Labarrère (left), and OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias (right)
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—19 September 2023—The Government of the Principality of Monaco has voluntarily contributed €10,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The contribution will be used towards the full elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Programme as well as establishing facts surrounding the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, relevant decisions of the policy-making organs of the OPCW and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.
The voluntary contribution was formalised on 8 September 2023 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Frédéric Labarrère, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the Organisation’s Headquarters in The Hague.
“With this renewed voluntary contribution, Monaco reaffirms its commitment to the strict observance of the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its unwavering support to the missions and activities carried out by the OPCW,” said Ambassador Labarrère.
The Director-General stated: “I express my sincere appreciation to Monaco for its financial and political support to the OPCW’s mission to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Monaco’s longstanding contribution to the OPCW Trust Fund for Syria Missions supports the Organisation in its work on the Syrian chemical weapons dossier and in upholding the norms and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
Background
Monaco has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997.
Between 2016 and 2022, Monaco has made voluntary contributions totalling €70,000 to the OPCW Trust Fund for Syria Missions.
The Declaration Assessment Team was established in 2014 to engage the relevant Syrian authorities to resolve the identified gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies in the Syrian declaration. The Fact-Finding Mission was set up in the same year in response to persistent allegations of chemical weapon attacks in Syria, with the task to establish facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals for hostile purposes. The Investigation and Identification Team began its work in 2019 and is responsible for identifying the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
Since the Convention entered into force, the OPCW observed the destruction of the chemical weapons stockpiles declared by all State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and confirmed on 7 July 2023 that all declared chemical weapons stockpiles were verified as irreversibly destroyed.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.