Strengthening the OPCW and the Chemical Weapons Convention

This project aims to strengthen the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). It also supports the full and effective implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Project activities include: (1) supporting chemical incident response capacity through ‘CHEMEX’ Africa; (2) training African customs institutions on transfers of chemicals; (3) supporting the OPCW to produce a databank of markers and identifiers of specific chemical weapons sites in Syria; and (4) strengthening physical and cyber-security at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague Netherlands.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) reduced vulnerabilities to unauthorized access to OPCW-managed information; (2) improved capacity of the OPCW to perform chemical profiling to be applicable to various types of OPCW missions. This includes investigations of alleged use of chemical weapons and other non-routine missions; and (3) enhanced chemical emergency response amongst States Parties in Africa to enforce the CWC transfers regime for scheduled chemicals and to ensure security in chemical trade.