| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
While the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) prepares for the Third
Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013, and as the deadline
for completion of the elimination of chemical weapons stockpiles by the States Parties of the
CWC passed at the end of April 2012, questions about the future of the OPCW have come to
the fore. During its initial decade, much of the OPCW's resources and expertise were devoted
to the verification of declared chemical weapons (CW) stockpiles and former CW production
facilities, and of their destruction or conversion for permitted purposes. Around three
quarters of the OPCW's verification resources have been devoted to these tasks. Although the
elimination of declared CW stockpiles will not be completed by 2012 (and there remain several
states outside the Convention that are suspected to possess chemical weapons), the intensity
in CW destruction and related verification measures will drop considerably in coming years,
marking the beginning of a transition of the regime (and its enforcement agency) to one with
a different focus and new priorities.
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