The OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria was jointly established on 16 October 2013 by 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) and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN) to oversee the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program. The Joint Mission continued the work of the OPCW-UN advance team that had arrived in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

on 1 October 2013. On 7 October 2013, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that the Joint Mission would eventually have about 100 personnel in Syria, with a support base in Cyprus. In a letter to the Security Council, Ban set out the mission's three phases: establish an initial presence and verify Syria's stockpiles declaration; oversee chemical weapons destruction; and verify destruction of all chemical arms related materials and programs. On 13 October Ban announced that veteran UN diplomat

Sigrid Kaag Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch diplomat and politician, serving as List of Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, First Deputy Prime Minister in the ...

would head the Joint Mission. By 23 June 2014,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

's declared stockpile of chemical weapons had been shipped out of the country or destroyed. The Joint Mission officially ended on 30 September 2014. Its successor, the

OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria is a mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to investigate some possible cases of the use of toxic chemicals in Syria during the civil war, including chlorine. The 21 August ...

, was launched in April 2014.

Background

On 27 September 2013, the OPCW Executive Council adopted decision EC-M-33/DEC.1 on the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons program. This decision was endorsed by the unanimous adoption of

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118 United Nations United Nations Security Council resolution, Security Council Resolution 2118 was adopted unanimously on 27 September 2013, in regard to the Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons during the Syrian civil war. It recall ...

(2013) on the same day. The Executive Council decision set out an accelerated program for achieving the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons by mid-2014. It required inspections in Syria to commence from 1 October 2013 and called for deadlines for destruction which were to be set by the Executive Council by 15 November. The decision was informed by the

Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons began on 14 September 2013 after Syria entered into several international agreements which called for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles and set a destruction deadline of 30 June ...

, reached by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 14 September, and facilitated the request by the

that the

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 ...

be applied ahead of the formal entry into force of the Convention for Syria on 14 October.

The Mission

The OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria was formally established on 16 October 2013., to oversee the timely elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program in the safest and most secure manner possible. It continued the work of the OPCW-UN advance team that had arrived in Damascus on 1 October 2013. On 23 June 2014, it was reported that the last shipment of Syria's declared chemical weapons was shipped out of the country for destruction. However, on 4 September 2014, the head of the Joint Mission reported to the UN Security Council that 96% of Syria's declared stockpile, including the most dangerous chemicals, had been destroyed and preparation were underway to destroy the remaining 12 production facilities, a task to be completed by the

.Ninety-six percent of Syria’s declared chemical weapons destroyed – UN-OPCW mission chief
/ref> The Joint Mission officially ended on 30 September 2014.

Aftermath

OPCW's operations Syria continued after the OPCW-UN Joint Mission ended. The

was launched in April 2014.

References

External links

opcw.unmissions.org
{{UN Special Political Missions Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons United Nations Security Council mandates Foreign involvement in the Syrian civil war 2013 in international relations 2013 in the Syrian civil war Syria and the United Nations

Background

The Mission

Aftermath

See also

References

External links