The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said that a lack of needed funding has hindered the group’s efforts to verify that countries are destroying their chemical weapons stockpiles, Inter Press Service reported today (see GSN, Oct. 28).

“The OPCW has been underfunded for several years now,” said the organization’s Executive Council Chairman Lionel Fernando, ambassador from Sri Lanka.  “The underfunding has had an impact on OPCW inspections, he said.

To date, the OPCW, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, has verified the destruction of about 7,050 tons of chemical weapons agents — 10 percent of the total arsenal declared by more than 10 countries.  The shortage of funds has also forced the organization to conduct fewer chemical industry inspections than planned, Fernando said.

Contributions from OPCW members have helped the organization restore cuts in activities that were made after a financial crisis in 2000, according to Inter Press Service.  Even with the voluntary contributions, however, “there is clearly a need to address the issue of funding with a view to making sure that future budgets are adequate for verification and other programs,” Fernando said (Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service/TerraViva, Nov. 21).

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