|
OPCW
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member states, has its seat in The Hague, Netherlands; it oversees the global endeavour for the permanent and verifiable elimination of chemical weapons. The organisation promotes and verifies the adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of chemical weapons and requires their destruction. Verification consists both of evaluation of declarations by member states and onsite inspections. The organisation was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons". Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjørn Jagland said, "The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law". History The Hague was chosen as the location for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Weapons Convention
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The treaty entered into force on 29 April 1997, and prohibits the large-scale use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of chemical weapons and their precursors, except for very limited purposes (research, medical, pharmaceutical or protective). The main obligation of member states under the convention is to effect this prohibition, as well as the destruction of all current chemical weapons. All destruction activities must take place under OPCW verification. As of August 2022, 193 states have become parties to the CWC and accept its obligations. Israel has signed but not ratified the agreement, while three other U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José Bustani
José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani (born June 5, 1945) is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 2002 over disagreements about how to address Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Career Born in Porto Velho, Rondônia, he received his law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 1967, and attended the Rio Branco Institute in the same year, after which he joined the Brazilian Foreign Service. He was the ambassador of Brazil in several countries, including the United Kingdom, between 2003 and 2008, and France, from 2008 up to retiring in 2015.Lopes, D. B."Bustani, José Maurício de Figueiredo"in ''IO BIO - Biographical Dictionary of Secretaries-General of International Organizations''. Edited by Bob Reinalda, Radboud University Nijmegen, and Kent Kille, The College of Wooster. Director General of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2013 Nobel Peace Prize
The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (founded in 1997) for their "extensive work to eliminate chemical weapons". The award citation indicated the organization was awarded the prize, because they “have defined the use of chemical weapons as taboo under international law. Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.” The committee criticized Russia and the United States for not meeting the extended deadline for destruction of its chemical weapons, and noted that certain countries "are still not members". The OPCW was the 22nd organization to be awarded the prize. Nomination The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on 4 March 2013, it had received 259 nominations for the prize. This was the highest number of nominations ever: 18 more than the previous record year 2011. Of those 259 nominations, 50 were for organiz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fernando Arias
Fernando Arias is a Spanish diplomat, who currently serves as the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ... (OPCW). Background The appointment of Ambassador Arias followed a consensus recommendation by the OPCW Executive Council in October 2017. Arias was re-appointed for a second four year term on November 30, 2021 Ambassador Arias is a career diplomat with extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy. Previously, he served as Ambassador of Spain to the Netherlands and the Permanent Representative of Spain to the OPCW. He also has served as Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations in New York and Ambassador of Spain to Mali, Mauritania, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Weapons
A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized Ammunition, munition that uses chemicals chemical engineering, formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as a weapon "or its Precursor (chemistry), precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action. Munitions or other delivery devices designed to deliver chemical weapons, whether filled or unfilled, are also considered weapons themselves." Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), though they are distinct from nuclear weapons, biological warfare, biological weapons, and radiological weapons. All may be used in warfare and are known by the military acronym NBC (for nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare). Weapons of mass destruction are distinct from conventional weapons, which are primarily effective due to their explos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghouta Chemical Attack
The Ghouta chemical attack, was a Chemical warfare, chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Syrian civil war. Two Syrian opposition, opposition-controlled areas in the suburbs around Damascus were struck by rocket artillery, rockets containing the chemical weapons, chemical agent, sarin. Estimates of the death toll range from at least 281 people to 1,729. The attack was the deadliest use of chemical weapons since the Iran–Iraq_War#Iraq's_use_of_chemical_weapons, Iran–Iraq War. Evidence of the attack United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Inspectors from the United Nations Mission to Investigate Alleged Uses of Chemical Weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, United Nations Mission already in Syria to investigate an earlier alleged chemical weapons attack requested access to sites in Ghouta the day after the attack and called for a ceasefire to allow inspectors to v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gerhard Kallmann
Gerhard Michael Kallmann (February 13, 1915 – June 19, 2012) was a German-born American architect and academic. Together with Michael McKinnell, Kallman is best known as the lead designer of Boston City Hall, which was constructed in 1968 by their architectural design firm, Kallmann McKinnell & Wood. Life and career Kallman was born to Theodore and Olga Jarecki Kallmann in Berlin, Germany, on February 13, 1915. His family was Jewish and intellectual. They moved to the United Kingdom in 1937 and Kallman enrolled at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1948. He began teaching at the Chicago Institute of Design less than one year after arriving in the U.S. Kallman became an assistant professor of architecture at Columbia University in 1954. In the early 1960s, Boston Mayor proposed a new city hall as part of plan to revitalize a declining section of the city's downtown. A competition was held to des ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorbjørn Jagland
Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from 1996 to 1997, as the minister of Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2001 and as the president of the Storting from 2005 to 2009. Jagland studied economics at the University of Oslo at introductory level, but did not graduate. He started his political career in the Workers' Youth League, which he led from 1977 to 1981. He was party secretary from 1986 to 1992 and party leader from 1992 to 2002. Jagland's cabinet, albeit short-lived, was marked by controversies, with two ministers being forced to withdraw following personal scandals. Jagland, who was much ridiculed in the media for his quotes and statements and frequently portrayed as incompetent, resigned following the 1997 election, as a consequence of his much ridiculed 36.9 ultimatum, even ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of the Netherlands is Amsterdam, The Hague has been described as the country's de facto capital. The Hague is also the capital of the province of South Holland, and the city hosts both the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Hague is the core municipality of the Greater The Hague urban area, which comprises the city itself and its suburban municipalities, containing over 800,000 people, making it the third-largest urban area in the Netherlands, again after the urban areas of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, with a population of approximately 2.6&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Office For Disarmament Affairs
The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) (french: Bureau des affaires du désarmement) is an Office of the United Nations Secretariat established in January 1998 as the Department for Disarmament Affairs, part of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to reform the UN as presented in his report to the General Assembly in July 1997. Its goal is to promote nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and the strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological weapons. It also promotes disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are often the weapons of choice in contemporary conflicts. It is led by an Under-Secretary-General (USG) and High Representative (HR), Izumi Nakamitsu of Japan, who took office on 1 May 2017. History In its landmark resolution 1653 of 1961, "Declaration on the prohibition of the use of nuclear and thermo-nuclear weapons", th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destruction Of Chemical Weapons
Throughout history, chemical weapons have been used as strategic weaponry to devastate the enemy in times of war. After the mass destruction created by WWI and WWII, chemical weapons have been considered to be inhumane by most nations, and governments and organizations have undertaken to locate and destroy existing chemical weapons. However, not all nations have been willing to cooperate with disclosing or demilitarizing their inventory of chemical weapons. Since the start of the worldwide efforts to destroy all existing chemical weapons, some nations and terrorist organizations have used and threatened the use of chemical weapons to leverage their position in conflict. A notable example includes the use of such weapons by the US government that sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. Other examples of the use of chemica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kallmann McKinnell & Wood
Kallmann McKinnell & Wood is an architectural design firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1962 as Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles by Gerhard Kallmann (1915-2012), Michael McKinnell (1935–2020), and Edward Knowles. History The firm originated when it won an international competition to design the Boston City Hall in 1962. Soon reconstituted as Kallmann McKinnell and Wood, ("Kallmann, the eldest member of the team, sGerman born and English educated. ... McKinnell sEnglish born and educated. ... Both have served as ... educators at the Harvard Graduate School of Design." Henry A. Wood "joined the firm in 1965.") the firm would go on to design structures across the United States and abroad. While the firm's "early period" consisted of bold structures of poured and pre-cast concrete, its later innovative work more often utilized brick, stone, copper, slate and cast stone, among other materials, for buildings that were less Brutalist in style and more postmo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
