17.4.

2018 OPCW Will Deploy Fact-Finding Mission to Douma, Syria

OPCW Will Deploy Fact-Finding Mission to Douma, Syria

Tuesday, 10 April 2018
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — 10 April 2018 — Since the first reports of alleged use of
chemical weapons in Douma, Syrian Arab Republic, were issued, the Organisation for
the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been gathering information from
all available sources and analysing it. At the same time, OPCW’s Director-General,
Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, has considered the deployment of a Fact-Finding
Mission (FFM) team to Douma to establish facts surrounding these allegations.
Today, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has requested the Syrian Arab Republic to
make the necessary arrangements for such a deployment. This has coincided with a request from the Syrian
Arab Republic and the Russian Federation to investigate the allegations of chemical weapons use in Douma.
The team is preparing to deploy to Syria shortly.
Background
Set up in 2014, the on-going mandate of the OPCW Fact Finding Mission (FFM) is “to establish facts
surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals, reportedly chlorine, for hostile purposes in the Syrian
Arab Republic”.  The OPCW cannot and will not release information about an on-going investigation. This
policy exists to preserve the integrity of the investigatory process and its results as well as to ensure the
safety and security of OPCW experts and personnel involved. All parties are asked to respect the
confidentiality parameters required for a rigorous and unimpeded investigation.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW oversees the global endeavour to
permanently and verifiably eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997 – and
with its 192 States Parties – it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of
weapons of mass destruction. 
Over ninety-six per cent of all chemical weapon stockpiles declared by possessor States have been destroyed
under OPCW verification. For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the
2013 Nobel Prize for Peace.
More Information

OPCW Director-General on Allegations of Chemical Weapons Use in Douma, Syria

OPCW Fact-Finding Mission
OPCW Fact Sheets
Media Inquiries
OPCW Public Affairs
Johan de Wittlaan 32, 2517 JR
The Hague, The Netherlands
+ 31 70 416 32 42

public.affairs@opcw.org
www.opcw.org

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Categories: Asia, Director-General, Syria

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For further information, please contact OPCW Public Affairs. +31 (0) 70 416 3242, public.affairs@opcw.org | ORGANISATION FOR THE PROHIBITION OF
CHEMICAL WEAPONS, Johan de Wittlaan 32, 2517 JR The Hague, The Netherlands

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