Sabrina Dallafior Matter

On October 15, Ambassador Zobrist Rentenaar was honoured to present her credentials to H.E. President Nausėda as the Swiss Ambassador to Lithuania. We are looking forward to further strengthening the excellent relations between 🇱🇹 and 🇨🇭. Ačiū! 📸: Robertas Dačkus

🗓️ 33 years ago today, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) was adopted by the Conference on Disarmament, marking the culmination of nearly a century of dedicated disarmament efforts. Past efforts 🔙 The earliest initiatives to prohibit the use of poisonous weapons were the St. Petersburg Declaration in 1868 and The Hague Declaration in 1899. Yet, these efforts fell short, and chemical weapons were used on a massive scale during the First World War. That devastating experience led to adoption of the Geneva Protocol in 1925. Building on the Geneva Protocol ⚠️ The Geneva Protocol prohibited the use of chemical weapons, but did not prohibit their production, development, or stockpiling. Unfortunately countries built up vast quantities of chemical weapons, and these weapons continued to be used in later conflicts. Turning point 📄 After 12 years of negotiations, the CWC was adopted by the Conference on Disarmament in 1992. The CWC sets out the obligations of countries to ensure that chemical weapons are eliminated and never re-emerge. The Convention is comprehensive and non-discriminatory, prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of chemical weapons by States Parties, under conditions of strict international verification.