The Twelfth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the principal decision-making organ of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), drew to a close in The Hague on 9 November 2007.

H.E. Mr Abuelgasim Abdelwahid Sheikh Idris, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Sudan to the OPCW, was unanimously elected as the Chairperson for the Twelfth Session of the Conference.

During this Session, the Conference considered and noted a status report by the Director-General on the progress made by those States Parties that have been granted extensions of deadlines for the destruction of their Category 1 chemical weapons.

The Conference reaffirmed the importance and urgency of States Parties fulfilling their obligations under Article VII of the Convention, which refers to implementation of measures at the national level. This Conference decision also stresses that States Parties should notify the Organisation – if they have not yet done so – of the designation or establishment of their National Authority and of the steps they are taking in relation to (a) the enactment of legislation and (b) the adoption of administrative measures to implement the Convention.

Of the 182 OPCW States Parties, 116 participated in the Twelfth Session of the Conference. Two Signatory States (Israel and the Dominican Republic) and two non-Signatory States (Iraq and Lebanon) were present as observers. Several international organisations, including the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, NATO and the League of Arab States attended the Conference.

The Thirteenth Session of the Conference will be held from 2 to 5 December 2008 in The Hague.

This news item is based on OPCW Press release n°119