Image (from left to right): Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the OPCW; Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt; and Paul Walker of Green Cross International.
On 12 December SIPRI, together with the Sveriges Riksdag (Swedish Parliament), the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI), held a seminar in honour of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the winner of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for ‘its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons’.
The seminar, which was entitled ‘From Ypres to Damascus: the Long Struggle to Abolish Chemical Weapons’, was moderated by UI’s Anna Jardfelt, with SIPRI’s Ian Anthony acting as discussant.
Four presenters spoke about the challenges involved in ridding the world of chemical weapons: Per Westerberg, who was elected as Speaker of the Riksdag in 2006; Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the OPCW; Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt; and Paul Walker of Green Cross International (who also recently gave a lecture at SIPRI).
The seminar was attended by policymakers, academics and members of the diplomatic community in Stockholm.
Download a section from SIPRI Yearbook 2013 on chemical and biological weapon programmes.