European Union Donates €4.6 Million to UN-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism, OPCW Special Missions in Syria

The Head of the United Nations-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (UN-OPCW) Joint Investigative Mechanism, Virginia Gamba, is pleased to announce that the European Union has donated €4.6 million to be divided equally between the Mechanism and OPCW Special Missions in Syria.

Of this significant donation, €2.3 million for the Joint Investigative Mechanism’s Voluntary Trust Fund will support the Mechanism’s work in identifying, “to the greatest extent feasible, individuals, entities, groups or Governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals, including chlorine or any other toxic chemical, as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic”.

The Trust Fund was created in September 2015 to cover the material and technical needs of the Mechanism’s substantive activities.  Thus far, the following countries have contributed to the Fund:  France, Germany, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States, in addition to the European Union.  Pledges have been received from Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia.