90 % of global chemical weapons stockpile destroyed: OPCW

Nobel peace prize winning organisation OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) has achieved major milestone of destroying 90 per cent of the global chemical weapons stockpile.
OPCW has mentioned that around 65,000 metric tonnes of declared chemical weapons, mostly from US and Russian arsenals of cold war era have been destroyed in a safe manner. It also includes total of 1,300 metric tonnes of chemical weapons removed from Syria in 2014.
The remaining stockpile is underway in phase of destruction and is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2020 and 2023. The weapons stockpiles included caches containing chemicals needed to make deadly nerve agents like Sarin.

About Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

• OPCW is an intergovernmental organisation, headquatered in Hague, Netherlands.
• The organisation promotes, administers and verifies the adherence to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (CWC).
• This convention outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors.
• 190 member-states have signed and ratified this convention including India. Six states- Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea and South Sudan are still outside the CWC.
• It was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2015