Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare

 17 June 2025 -  Commemorating a Century of the Geneva Protocol: OPCW Statement on 100 Years of Chemical and Biological Arms Control ,  The "Century of the Geneva Protocol" refers to the 100th anniversary of the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, which was signed on June 17, 1925. Celebrations and commemorations marking this centenary have taken place throughout 2025, highlighting the Protocol's role as a foundational agreement in international law against chemical and biological weapons and paving the way for later treaties like the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) . Date: The 100th anniversary occurred on June 17, 2025. The OPCW Director-General.

  5 May 2025 -  Opening Remarks by Deputy Director-General, Ambassador Odette Melono, at the Regional Conference on Advancing CWC Implementing Legislation in Africa , Deputy Director-General.

The University of Alberta, Canada is Developing AI-powered chemical language models to predict novel toxic compounds. The resulting reference library will improve OPCW’s ability to identify and monitor both known and unknown chemical warfare agents.  * The teams will conduct their research throughout 2025, providing final reports by the end of the year. The final results will then be considered by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to best understand which ideas and approaches could be further explored moving forward.

Developing AI-based models for automatic identification of scheduled chemicals and extracting relevant, characteristic chemical forensic information. This research will bolster OPCW’s forensic capabilities and improve its ability to trace the origins of hazardous substances. The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), The Netherlands   The teams will conduct their research throughout 2025, providing final reports by the end of the year. The final results will then be considered by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to best understand which ideas and approaches could be further explored moving forward.

The Korea Military Academy, Republic of Korea is Building a big data repository of organophosphorus compound toxicities and vapour pressures. AI-driven models will enable more precise chemical analysis, better detection, and improved field mission planning, enhancing OPCW’s chemical analysis capabilities as well as preparedness and safety for field operations in chemical threat environments.    The teams will conduct their research throughout 2025, providing final reports by the end of the year. The final results will then be considered by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to best understand which ideas and approaches could be further explored moving forward.

 The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), United Kingdom is Using existing open-source data, developing AI tools capable of identifying unique chemical signatures using mass spectrometry data. This research will enhance the Organisation’s chemical forensics capabilities in comparing samples of chemical warfare agents.    The teams will conduct their research throughout 2025, providing final reports by the end of the year. The final results will then be considered by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to best understand which ideas and approaches could be further explored moving forward.  

The OPCW has partnered with four research institutions selected for the OPCW Artificial Intelligence Research Challenge , an initiative launched in July 2024, funded by the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). The challenge aims to explore AI applications to enhance OPCW’s ability to detect and respond to current and future chemical threat s. The four teams – Canada’s University of Alberta, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Republic of Korea’s Military Academy, UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory – were announced, and each given an opportunity to provide an overview of their proposed research, at a side event during the 108th session of the OPCW Executive Council. “The AI Research Challenge has the potential to provide innovative tools that could enhance the OPCW’s capabilities to safeguard global security helping us stay ahead of these threats,” said OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias. ...