This is the text of the speech delivered by the Director-General of the OPCW H.E. Mr Ahmet Üzümcü at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi on September 3, 2015. He spoke on Reinforcing Norm Against Chemical Weapons.

There has been an increase in speculations surrounding the possible use of chemical and biological weapons in the aftermath of Paris massacre. These fears and speculations are not random or isolated. They emerge from events in the war theatres of Iraq and Syria that witnessed increasing use of chemical weapons such as chlorine and mustard gas against civilians and military alike across the globe after the outbreak of Ebola virus.

Chemical weapons can cause large scale death and destruction. To give an example, a pinhead size drop of nerve agent can kill an adult within minutes. In a country like India which has a large density of population, a large scale attack is almost impossible to prepare against. Chemical weapons are ideal for terror seekers because they are cheap and easily accessible. They are also easy to transport.

In 22nd April, 1915, during the First World War (WWI), German forces used Chlorine gas for the first time, killing thousands of French troops in the battlefields in Ypres, Belgium.1 This incident introduced the era of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in the history of modern warfare. Since then, chemical agents have become the only WMDs to be used repeatedly in conflict situations.

In shadow of many unprecedented terror attacks, disastrous toll taken by Ebola across the globe and dreadful spread of Swine Flu in India, the 40th anniversary of Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) was convened on 30 March 2015 in the Council Chamber of the Palais des Nations in Geneva, the same place where the BWC was originally negotiated.

The lawyer1 representing the Pakistani clinician2 involved in a US national security plan to confirm Osama Bin Laden’s identity in