This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997. Nearly every nation in the world is a signatory member of this landmark convention which seeks to eliminate chemical weapons from the world.  The CWC has 182 state parties.  Of these, six have declared chemical weapons stockpiles – Albania, India, Libya, Russia, South Korea, and the United States.  None of these achieved complete stockpile destruction by the April 2007 100% destruction deadline of the CWC.  Albania, however, was the first CW-possessor state to fully destroy its stockpile – 16 tons of chemical agents – in July 2007.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose mission is to "eliminate the scourge of chemical weapons forever and to verify the destruction of the declared chemical weapons stockpiles within stipulated deadlines," is located in The Hague and is tasked with implementing the CWC.  The OPCW also inspects and monitors sites and facilities, provides assistance to member states, aids CWC implementation, offers technical training, and facilitates chemical weapon protection between states.