H.E. Mr Johannes Oljelund, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Sweden to the OPCW, and Ambassador Fernando Arias, OPCW Director-General
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—24 June 2024—The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden has voluntarily contributed SEK 2,000,000 (approximately €180,000) to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The contribution was formalised on 20 June 2024 in a signing ceremony held between the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, and the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Sweden to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Johannes Oljelund, at the OPCW’s Headquarters in The Hague.
The contribution will support the full elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Programme, as well as to establish 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.
Ambassador Oljelund stated: “Our contribution is to support the OPCW in revealing the truth. The OPCW’s work in relation to Syria is essential to establish facts and to eliminate chemical weapons in Syria.”
The Director-General thanked Sweden for its unwavering support to the full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and stated: “I express my deep appreciation to Sweden for its financial and political support to the OPCW’s mission to permanently eradicate chemical weapons. This contribution will help the OPCW to continue its critical work in Syria.”
Background
Sweden has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in 1997.
To date, the Kingdom of Sweden has supported diverse OPCW projects and activities, including missions in the Syrian Arab Republic and the OPCW Centre for Chemistry and Technology, with voluntary contributions amounting to over €1.8 million.
The OPCW 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 OPCW 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 OPCW 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.
On 7 July 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 — totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents — have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW’s strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.