On November 25–29, 2019 the Twenty-Forth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CSP-24) take place in The Hague, the Netherlands.

Representatives of the States Parties to the Convention, relevant international institutions and NGOs attend the events.

In the course of the sessions, the States Parties consider a broad range of issues relating to the elimination of chemical weapons, maintaining efficient CWC verification regime, development of international cooperation in the field of peaceful chemistry, as well as effective national implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The aim of the sessions is also to consider the recent cases of the chemical weapons use in a number of countries, and to adopt the mechanism to prevent such use in the future.

The Head of the delegation of Ukraine, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Mr. Vsevolod Chentsov in his statement during the general debates strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons in different regions of the world and expressed Ukraine’s support to the technical proposal submitted jointly by the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands to the OPCW Director-General to update the Annex on Chemicals by adding “Novichok” type chemical agents to the list of Schedule 1 chemicals.

In spite of desperate attempts of the Russian Federation and its satellites to block the negotiation process, the States Parties by overwhelming majority adopted the Program and the Budget of the OPCW for 2020, which, inter alia, upholds the role of the OPCW in conducting investigations of the chemical weapons use and determining the perpetrators of such crimes.

The participation of the delegation in the conference is in line with Ukraine’s policy aimed at necessity to prevent the chemical weapons use and to bring the perpetrators to justice. Ukraine consistently advocates a position on the importance of full and irreversible chemical disarmament under effective international control and considers the Chemical Weapons Convention as an effective instrument in this area.