WASHINGTON, D.C.: Even during this pandemic, perhaps especially during this pandemic, the global institutions to help prevent the spread of biological and chemical weapons to proliferators or terrorists must continue their work. More importantly, the OPCW postponed for rescheduling as circumstances warrant, capacity-building events, inspections of facilities with scheduled chemicals and former chemical weapons facilities, inspections related to abandoned or old chemical weapons, and deployments and missions to Syria. This is likely to have already emerged as the OPCW has moved more toward seeking to prevent the reemergence of chemical weapons with a new focus on attribution of chemical weapons use and chemical security. The pandemic also will, moreover, put added pressure on some commercial enterprises to engage proliferators, terrorists and other criminals to avoid financial ruin. To expand on the words of UN Secretary-General Guterres, the Covid-19 pandemic has made an already vulnerable world even more vulnerable to exploitation by proliferators, terrorists and criminals.

Source: Manila Times May 07, 2020 16:24 UTC