Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an agency of the United Nations. Its mission is to promote membership of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty and to check, through its inspectors, that members are obeying the provisions of the convention . It was established in 1997. In January, 2002 one hundred and forty-five states had ratified or acceded to the convention.