Organisation For The Prohibition of Chemical Weapons - Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure

The activities of the OPCW and its core organizational structure are described in the Chemical Weapons Convention (whose members are all in OPCW). The principal body is the conference of states parties, which normally is convened yearly, and in which all countries participate and have equal voting rights. Countries are generally represented in the Conference by a permanent representative to the organization, which in most cases is also the ambassador (to the Netherlands). The conference decides on all main topics regarding the organization (e.g. taking retaliation measures) and the convention (approving guidelines, imposing retaliating measures against members. The Executive Council is the executive organ of the organization and consists of 41 States Parties, which are appointed by the Conference on a 2-year term. The Council amongst others oversees the budget and cooperates with the General Secretariat on all matters related to the convention. The Technical Secretariat applies most of the activities mandated by the Council and is the body where most of the employees of the organization work. The main activities of the OPCW are performed by the verification and the inspection division.