NGO Open Forum

Present your work

Open Forum at the Conference of States Parties

During the weeklong annual Conference of States Parties in The Hague, the CWC Coalition organizes one or more NGO Open Forums, which are side events that provide NGOs with the opportunity to present their work on topics relevant to the object and/or purpose of the CWC and foster discussion with Conference delegates, the Technical Secretariat, and other stakeholders. 

Each NGO Open Forum is typically held in the World Forum Convention Center in the vicinity of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) headquarters, and is one of several side events organized outside of the conference plenary sessions. 

The NGO Open Forum has held discussions on topics such as the challenges of chemical weapons destruction in the USA, the regulation of riot control agents, a way forward on sea-dumped chemical weapons, and the mechanism of death in chlorine gas exposure. 

“The Open Forum […] showed the range of civil society involvement and contribution to national CWC implementation or associated activities” and was “extremely rich in technical and substantive information [leading] to dynamic and meaningful discussions.”

–  1540 Committee’s Group of Experts, 2013

The date for the Open Forum varies yearly and will be provided on the OPCW Conference website as soon as it has been confirmed. 

NGOs that have been approved to attend the CSP and are interested in making presentations at the Open Forum should contact Dr. Paul Walker. 

Past Open Forum Topics

2019 NGO Open Form Topics

  • Riot control and incapacitating chemical agents
  • Chemical weapons stockpile demilitarization
  • Victims of chemical warfare
  • Effects of chlorine
  • Negotiating strategies
  • Sea-dumped chemical weapons

2015 NGO Open Forum Topics

  • The mechanism of death in chlorine gas exposure
  • Implementation of the Convention in Africa
  • Challenges of chemical weapons destruction in the USA
  • Remote control delivery of RCAs

2010 NGO Open Forum Topics

  • Regulation of Riot Control Agents, Incapacitants, and Delivery Systems
  • National Control of Chemical Weapons Production
  • Chemical and Biological Weapons Use in the Rome Statute: A Case for Change
  • A Way Forward on Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons
  • U.S. and Russian Chemical Weapons Destruction