The Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons Side Event was held at the Hague on April 10, 2013.
Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons (SDW’s) can be found in large volumes in our oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and streams. They can be found in in-land waterways where some waters are used for irrigation and drinking. They can be found in the Baltic, Mediterranean and Black Seas or off of Japan or the Hawaiian Islands or the east and west coasts of North America including the Great Lakes to name but a few areas. SDW’s and underwater munitions in some form or another will pollute the marine environment over time. It’s just a question of “when and for how long”. Underwater munitions are “Point Source Emitters of Pollution”. In most cases, remove the source and you remove the problem. What we have learned is that off-the-shelf technology developed by the oil and gas industry and the military’s unmanned system programs does exist to detect, investigate and remediate most underwater munitions sites today. And there is a “Need to clean” based on the potential negative consequences on the economic, human and environmental impacts on our health care systems and depleting fish stocks and security related concerns.
The International Dialogue on Underwater Munitions (IDUM) will co-organize in cooperation with the Governments of Lithuania and Poland, and the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) on SeaDumped Chemical Weapons as a Side Event on Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons. The Side Event will take place during the Third Review Conference of States Parties for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on April 10, 2013 from 13:00 PM to 14.30: PM at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) IN The Hague. The Side Event will include a networking reception from 14.30 PM to 15.00 PM followed by a bilateral meeting with stakeholders including private sector in the Ooms room from 15.00 PM to 16.30.
The issue of sea dumped chemical weapons is of global dimension that requires multi-stakeholder cooperation. There are technical means, solutions and a rational to start to remove chemical munitions from the sea now. The aim of the Side Event is to promote the development of a practical platform of voluntary cooperation among all the relevant parties involved in the issues sea dumped chemical weapons. In addition to the April Side Event, IDUM in cooperation with Poland and Lithuania will organize a follow-up meeting of the International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) on Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons the week of May 20th, 2013, in Nova Scotia, Canada, where the outcomes of the April side event will be presented. The outcomes of the Side Event and the follow-up meeting in Nova Scotia will be presented at the United Nations Second Committee on Sustainable Development in December 2013.
These events will bring together leaders and interested parties from Governments, industry, NGO’s, stake holders and the public to discuss technologies and potential underwater munitions response programs (UMRP’s) for sea dumped chemical weapons. The main focus of these events will be to share practical means and solutions and exchange of industry’s experience and capacity to safely, economically and environmentally friendly recovery and disposed of sea dumped chemical weapons including the international transfer of skills and technologies for Underwater Munitions Response Programs (UMRP).
We invite you to participate in the Side Event and to join a voluntary platform of cooperation aimed at reducing the environmental impact of sea dumped chemical weapons and the negative economic consequences on our human health and marine resources in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Resolutions on Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons. The Resolution introduced by the Government of Lithuania in November 2010 was adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly in December 2010.
This forum seeks international Voluntary Cooperation with a view to create worldwide economic stimulus or investment in the future of our oceans with the international transfer of skill and technologies to remediate sea dumped chemical weapons sites. Space is limited and to attend as a delegate preregistration is mandatory at registration@underwatermunitions.org. I look forward to meeting you at the Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons Side Event in The Hague in April, 2013.
