FORUM: “Let’s Keep the memory of the victims alive.” Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare 2025. The global community must speak with one voice and reaffirm commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention, end impunity, and live up to the Pact for the Future’s pledge to a world free of these weapons. Last year, we achieved an important milestone: the destruction of the last chemical weapon from the stockpiles declared by countries that are part of the Chemical Weapons Convention. But the last decade has seen the reemergence of these weapons. Combined with rapid developments in science and technology, the threat grows greater still. This commemoration will provide an opportunity to pay tribute to the victims of chemical warfare, as well as to reaffirm the commitment of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which consist to eliminate the threat of chemical weapons, thereby promote the goals of peace, security, and multilateralism. Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #VictimsofChemicalwarfare, #30November,#ChemicalWarfareDay, #Chemicalweaponsconvention.
EVENTS: 100th anniversary of the 1925 Geneva Protocol and 28th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
On November 30th, a homage to the memory of the victims and to uphold the dignity of survivors will be held by the United Nations General assembly first committee to commemorate the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare 2025. This year; The OPCW member states, on November 29th will marked the 28th anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention. With 193 States Parties, the Convention today embodies the international norm against the use of chemical weapons and remains the most successful disarmament treaty in the world.
Today, we pay tribute to the victims of chemical warfare over the decades.
We also remember the global efforts to end the use of these abhorrent tactics.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Geneva Protocol. A century ago, after witnessing the terrible impact of chemical weapons during World War I, the international community came together to ban their use in war.
The following decades saw remarkable success, including the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention — which now has nearly universal adherence.
Yet our work is not finished. The appalling use of chemical weapons has continued, and rapid developments in science and technology threaten to make their acquisition and use even easier. We cannot allow this to continue.
In the name of all victims of chemical warfare, I urge States to reaffirm their commitment to a world free of these repugnant weapons.
We also remember the global efforts to end the use of these abhorrent tactics.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Geneva Protocol. A century ago, after witnessing the terrible impact of chemical weapons during World War I, the international community came together to ban their use in war.
The following decades saw remarkable success, including the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention — which now has nearly universal adherence.
Yet our work is not finished. The appalling use of chemical weapons has continued, and rapid developments in science and technology threaten to make their acquisition and use even easier. We cannot allow this to continue.
In the name of all victims of chemical warfare, I urge States to reaffirm their commitment to a world free of these repugnant weapons.
António Guterres; Secretary-General of the United Nations.
PLIGHT: Join the plight ''For a word “free from the threat of chemical weapons”.
PUBLICATION: The Future of the Chemical Weapons Convention. from the ARMS CONTROL ASSOCIATION.
In July 2023, the world reached a landmark achievement in the history of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs): the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed the verified and irreversible destruction of all known chemical weapons stockpiles. 26 years after the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force, it had achieved one of its major goals, becoming the first multilateral disarmament treaty to effectively eliminate an entire class of weapons.
This was not the first time that the CWC led the way in disarmament. With 193 member states, the CWC is the most universal of multilateral disarmament treaties. In 2013, the OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its “extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.”
The CWC was opened for signature in January 1993 and officially entered into force on 29 April 1997, after the 65th state party adhered to the convention. The treaty is thorough in its attempt to rid the world of chemical weapons: it outlaws the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, and retention of chemical weapons. The goal of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to create a word “free from the threat of chemical weapons” is one step closer now that all declared stockpiles have been destroyed. This latest achievement offered a glimmer of hope in the arms control world amidst rising tensions among nuclear armed powers.
