Finland provides voluntary funding to support OPCW missions in Syria

Permanent Representative of Finland to the OPCW, H.E.Mr Ilkka-Pekka Similä, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-24 June 2026-The Government of the Republic of Finland has voluntarily contributed EUR 50,000 to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions.

The voluntary contribution will support Syria-related missions and activities carried out by the OPCW Technical Secretariat in line with its mandate. Its objectives include establishing the full scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme, verifying all declarable elements, supporting the development and implementation of a destruction plan, and investigating allegations of chemical weapons use, including the identification of those responsible.

The voluntary contribution was formalised on 22 June 2026 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Finland to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Ilkka-Pekka Similä, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the Organisation's Headquarters in The Hague.

Ambassador Similä stated: "Finland is pleased to make a new voluntary contribution to the OPCW Trust Fund for Syria. The contribution reaffirms our strong commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Chemical weapons must never be used under any circumstances. We reiterate our ongoing support for the OPCW and our full confidence in the impartial and professional manner in which it carries out its work in Syria."

Director-General Arias stated: "I thank Finland for this valuable contribution, which demonstrates its continued commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention and to the important work of the OPCW. Sustained international support is crucial to advancing efforts to close the Syrian chemical weapons dossier, an issue of fundamental importance to international peace and security."

Background

Finland has been an active member of the OPCW since the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997.

To date, Finland has contributed a total of EUR 1,737,834 to several OPCW trust funds, including the Trust Fund for a Centre for Chemistry and Technology, the Trust Fund for Syria Missions, the Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X earmarked for Ukraine.

Syria acceded to the CWC in 2013 under a stringent verification regime. While Syria submitted an initial declaration of its chemical weapons (CW) programme, the former Syrian government did not declare all its CW programme and attempted - unsuccessfully - to mislead the international community about the overall scope and scale of the Syrian CW programme. Furthermore, the Technical Secretariat documented and independently confirmed CW use in Syria both by the former Syrian military forces and by non-state actors, specifically ISIS/ISIL.

The fall of the Assad government in December 2024 has provided new grounds for the Secretariat to continue its mandated activities towards uncovering the full scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme and to eliminate it in line with the CWC. In February 2025, the OPCW Director-General visited Syria and held separate meetings with the Syrian President and Foreign Minister. They expressed Syria's recognition of all OPCW mandates, including the identification of perpetrators of chemical weapons use in Syria and reaffirmed Syria's full commitment to fulfilling its obligations under the CWC. In March 2025, the Syrian Foreign Minister visited the OPCW and addressed the Executive Council, where he renewed Syria's commitment to the Convention.

Since the visit by the Director-General to Damascus in February 2025, the OPCW Technical Secretariat deployed several times to Syria, involving visits to suspected locations, sampling, interviews, collection of documents related to Syria's chemical weapons programme, and coordination.

To better coordinate efforts and to provide a foundation for future deployments and potential new mandates, the Director-General created on 1 June 2025 the Office of Special Missions (OSM) in the Technical Secretariat. The work related to the Syrian chemical weapons dossier - verification of declarations and investigation of use of toxic chemicals as weapons - is now coordinated by the OSM.

Since November 2025, OPCW has re-established a presence in Syria to facilitate upcoming inventory, destruction and verification-related activities.

As the implementing body for the CWC, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention's entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.

In 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 - totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents - have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW's strict verification regime.

For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.