What is the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)?

About Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW):

• It is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
• Mission: To implement the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in order to achieve the OPCW’s vision of a world that is free of chemical weapons and of the threat of their use, and in which cooperation in chemistry for peaceful purposes for all is fostered.
• Its headquarters are located in The Hague, Netherlands.
• The OPCW receives states-parties’ declarations detailing chemical weapons-related activities or materials and relevant industrial activities.
• The OPCW is authorized to perform inspections to verify that signatory states are complying with the convention.
• It also performs testing of sites and victims of suspected chemical weapons attacks. 
• OPCW reports on its inspections and other activities to the UN through the office of the secretary-general.
• The OPCW was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC):

• It is a multilateral treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction within a specified period of time.
• It entered into force on April 29, 1997.
• The CWC requires states-parties to declare in writing to the OPCW their chemical weapons stockpiles, chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs), relevant chemical industry facilities, and other weapons-related information.
• The CWC is open to all nations and currently has 193 states-parties.

Q1) When were Chemical weapons first used in modern warfare?

In modern warfare, chemical weapons were first used in World War I (1914–18), during which gas warfare inflicted more than one million of the casualties suffered by combatants in that conflict and killed an estimated 90,000.

Source: Chemical weapons watchdog blames Syrian air force for Douma attack

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