London conference on chemical weapons destruction puts Syria’s Assad-era legacy and Russia’s alleged use on the agenda

Chemical weapons experts from governments, laboratories and the international watchdog met in London this week for the 28th Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation Conference, with the legacy of the Assad government’s chemical weapons programme in Syria and Russia’s alleged use of such weapons at the top of the agenda. The UK Ministry of Defence and its Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), who hosted the event, published a summary on 21 October.

The conference has run since 1998 and serves as a forum for sharing lessons from destruction programmes and for developing practical responses to current and emerging threats. Discussions ranged from Syria and wider destruction challenges to chemical forensics, emerging technologies and future chemical security, according to the MoD.

Syria in focus

The opening sessions put particular emphasis on Syria. A dedicated panel, titled “Syria 2.0: A New Challenge for a New Syria”, examined the challenges and opportunities created by the country’s changed circumstances and the effort to deal with the legacy of the Assad programme.

Damian Johnson, the MoD’s Director for Homeland Defence and Strategic Threats, called chemical weapons demilitarisation “one of the great success stories of international arms control” but warned against complacency. He said the international community must help Syria to eradicate the programme and that Russia “must be held accountable” for what he described as its continued use of chemical weapons in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. These are the position of the UK government, as stated by the ministry.

Sabrina Dallafior, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said progress in Syria “shows successful multilateralism in action”. Geopolitiki reported earlier this week that delegates at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee also welcomed progress on Syria’s chemical weapons file, while allegations were raised against several other states; see UN First Committee welcomes Syria chemical weapons progress as Russia, Iran and Sudan face new allegations.

New technology and old stockpiles

Cassandra Simmons-Brown, acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Programs, told the conference that super-intelligent systems, automated chemistry, additive manufacturing and drone delivery are “rapidly lowering traditional barriers” to acquiring and using chemical weapons. She said close collaboration with industry is her team’s highest priority.

Delegates also looked back. Sessions covered progress in Japan’s work to destroy Japanese chemical weapons abandoned in China after the Second World War, and specialists shared experience of destruction technologies and the practical lessons from using them. Another session dealt with the engineering problems that can arise when officials meet unfamiliar chemical weapons in destruction scenarios.

Forensics, AI and the next generation

Looking ahead, the programme turned to how specialists identify unknown chemicals in complex samples, chemical forensics and source attribution, the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in chemical analysis, analytical technologies, capacity building and knowledge management. An early-careers session showcased work on portable chemical threat screening, biomarkers of chemical exposure, chlorine exposure analysis and research relevant to OPCW verification.

Dr Paul Hollinshead, Chief Executive of Dstl, said scientific expertise is critical to meeting the evolving challenge and that the role of designated laboratories such as Dstl is to preserve expertise and keep the global norm against chemical weapons “strong, credible and enforceable”. The MoD statement did not announce new funding or decisions; it presented the conference as a forum for exchanging expertise.