THE THREAT OF SEA-DUMPED CHEMICAL WEAPONS DISCUSSED AT THE INITIATIVE OF LITHUANIA IN THE HAGUE
On 3 December in The Hague, an informal meeting on sea-dumped chemical weapons was organised at the initiative of Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Representatives from the State Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention and nongovernmental organizations, who are also taking part in the 13th Session of the Conference of the State Parties in The Hague, participated in the informal meeting.
During this event, Lithuania was represented by Lithuanian permanent representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ambassador Vaidotas Verba, Economy Vice-minister Vytautas Naudužas, and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy.
Ambassador V. Verba once again reminded participants of the event about the environmental threat of sea-dumped chemical weapons, their impact on health and security, and encouraged States Parties to the Convention to voluntarily exchange their information on sea-dumped chemicals, to share their scientific knowledge and pieces of concrete advice on how to neutralize or reduce this threat.
Results of an international seminar regarding sea-dumped chemical weapons, which was held on 30 September – 1 October in Vilnius this year, were presented during the event.
Research done in various countries demonstrates that there are sea-dumped chemical weapons in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, etc. It is known that after the World War II, there were about 40.000 tones of chemical weapons dumped at the Baltic Sea, about 13.000 tones of which are poisonous warfare chemicals.
