EC-106: 9-12 July 2024

Destruction-related issues

States parties to the CWC have an obligation to complete the destruction of all abandoned chemical weapons (ACW). The Abandoning State Party must provide all necessary financial, technical, expert, facility, and other resources and the Territorial State Party must provide appropriate cooperation. To date, a total of seven on-site inspections to the ACW facilities had been completed in 2024.

Addressing the threat from chemical weapons use

As decided at the 4th Review Conference in 2018, each EC meeting, the DG is required to submit a report on the status of threats of chemical weapons use.

“In furtherance of paragraph 7 of the decision, the Technical Secretariat (the Secretariat) has continued its engagement with the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify all gaps, discrepancies, and inconsistencies noted in its initial declaration and subsequent submissions. 3. The twenty-seventh round of consultations between the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) and the Syrian National Authority took place in Damascus in May 2024. During this round of consultations, the DAT conducted technical meetings with experts from the Syrian National Authority, interviewed three persons who were involved in the Syrian chemical weapons programme, and visited three declared former chemical weapons‑related sites and collected samples. In the course of the technical meeting with the Syrian National Authority, the DAT discussed the results of the analysis of samples collected by the DAT between 2019 and 2023 at two declared chemical weapons production sites, with a focus on the unexpected presence of indicators of potentially undeclared activities involving research and development, production, storage, and/or weaponisation of unknown quantities of chemical weapons.” – from the full report on Addressing the Threat from Chemical Weapons Use

Challenge inspections

Challenge inspections are a feature of the CWC in which the OPCW conducts an investigation into alleged use of chemical weapons. In order for these inspections, which to date have not taken place, to be effective, the OPCW must maintain a high level of readiness to conduct a challenge inspection if requested. At EC-106, the DG issued a report about the status of readiness to perform challenge inspections. Read the full report here.

Scientific Advisory Board

The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) is a body of the OPCW that allows the Director-General to give specialized scientific advice to the CSP, EC, or CWC States Parties. The SAB is composed of scientific experts who report to the Director-General. The SAB submits reports to the EC. Every five years, the SAB prepares a comprehensive report on the status of science and technology and submits it at the Review Conference. Read more about it here.

At EC-106, the Director-General submitted his response to the SAB. Read the DG’s full response here. He noted specifically: 

The Director-General agrees with the recommendation of the SAB to establish a new temporary working group (TWG) focused on AI. The Director-General will work closely with the SAB Chairperson and others involved to determine the next steps in setting up this TWG.” 

Other topics covered at EC-106:

• Article VI
• Article VII
• Protection and Assistance Databank
• Article X
• Article XI
• Countering chemical terrorism