OPCW Preparatory Commission History Project

PROGRESS REPORT No. 3
(August to October 2003)

Project team activities

The relocation of the Harvard Sussex Program into the Freeman Centre at the University of Sussex is now almost complete and the team have been able to start the process of locating papers relevant to the initial tasks we have set ourselves. As usual in such cases some of the papers we believe to be important as starting points are in the missing volumes of otherwise complete sets of papers but we will find them elsewhere.

We continue to seek sources of finance and in this regard wish to record our gratitude to the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands, who have made us a significant grant. We hope that other member state governments will feel able to contribute also. We can supply budgetary and other details to any delegation which would be prepared to consider a formal application for support.

Ian Kenyon and Daniel Feakes were able to use the opening days of the Eighth CSP in October to make contacts among both delegations and former members of the PTS. Ian also used a visit to New York that month to bring the project to the attention of senior members of the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs.

Seat

In pursuance of the sub-project on the selection of The Hague as seat of the organisation and the subsequent operation of the Host Country Bid we have established formal contact with the appropriate branch of the Netherlands MFA and with the former directorate of the OPCW Foundation. It has been confirmed that the Foundation Archives are in a good condition and work has been put in hand to translate the index from Dutch to English. The MFA is considering the degree of transparency which might be permitted with regard to government papers. It is intended to hold a meeting in The Hague in the New Year between Project personnel, former Foundation staff and the MFA to progress this sub-project. In the meanwhile the project team will produce an outline for discussion.

Prologue

The first part of the project will cover events preceding the First Preparatory Commission Meeting in The Hague in February 1993, including work in Geneva and New York on the initial budget; the adoption of UNGA Resolution 47/39 and its associated UN responsibilities; and the drafting and adoption of the Paris Resolution. We have identified some of the key documents and the main players and will be producing a preliminary discussion document on these issues also in the next period.

Scoping exercise

The other key initial activity is creating some kind of chart indicating all the main activities of the Preparatory Commission and their timelines. This work has been started but is likely to be a large task and to require continuous updating as we gather more material.

Contacts

We have started to receive offers of help from former members of national delegations and the PTS. As we receive contact details we ask for a preliminary statement of the particular activities of the Preparatory Commission with which the individual was engaged and the timeframe. This information will then enable us to send detailed questions to the right people as we reach different sections of the project. We are encouraged that so many former colleagues are prepared to help us in this task.

We are still anxious to hear from all those others who were involved in the task of creating OPCW, whether in the PTS or from the side of Member States. Please contact us:

OPCW PC Project
c/o Harvard Sussex Program
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QE
United Kingdom

Tel: ++44 (0)1273 87741
Fax: ++44 (0)1273 685865
e-mail: cwc-pc@sussex.ac.uk