The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has voluntarily contributed €2 million to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The voluntary contribution was formalised on 15 December 2025 in a signing ceremony held between the Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the OPCW, H.E. Mr Thomas Schieb, and the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Fernando Arias, at the Organisation's Headquarters in The Hague.
Ambassador Schieb stated: "Today, I am pleased to announce that Germany will contribute a further €2 million to the Syria Missions of the OPCW. With the fall of the Assad regime and with the commitment of the new Syrian government to cooperate with the OPCW, we have the opportunity to ensure the verified destruction of all remaining chemical weapons in Syria, to reduce the risk of proliferation and to bring this dossier to an end. The Syrian Arab Republic and the Technical Secretariat need full support of all States Parties in this extremely complex and important endeavour."
The Director-General stated: "I would like to extend my deep appreciation to Germany for its unwavering support of the OPCW's work on the Syrian chemical weapons dossier. Germany's contribution today once again demonstrates its steadfast commitment to upholding the norms and principles of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as well as its strong dedication to international peace and security."
"The task to bring an end to the Syrian chemical weapons dossier is at the core of the Convention-namely, the verifiable and irreversible destruction of chemical weapons by a State Party and the prevention of their proliferation. Its success will depend on States Parties' political, financial, and technical support" he added.
Germany's contribution will support OPCW's missions and activities to determine the full scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme, and investigation of alleged chemical weapons use and identification of perpetrators of their use in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Background
Germany has been an active member of the OPCW since 1997 and is currently represented on the Executive Council with Ambassador Schieb serving as the Chair. In Subsidiary Organs, Germany is represented on the Advisory Body on Administrative and Financial Matters, the Confidentiality Commission, the Scientific Advisory Board, and the Advisory Board on Education and Outreach.
To date, Germany has contributed a total of approximately EUR 14.1 million to 9 OPCW Trust Funds, including recent contributions to the Trust Fund for Syria Missions (2022 and 2024), Trust Fund for the Implementation of Article X (2023 and 2024) earmarked for assistance and protection activities related to Ukraine, and the Trust Fund for Training (2024).
Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013 under a stringent verification regime. While Syria submitted an initial declaration of its chemical weapons (CW) programme, the former Syrian government did not declare all its CW programme and attempted - unsuccessfully - to mislead the international community about the overall scope and scale of the Syrian chemical weapons programme. Furthermore, the Technical Secretariat documented and independently confirmed chemical weapons use in Syria both by the former Syrian military forces and by non-state actors, specifically ISIS/ISIL.
The fall of the Assad government in December 2024 created an opportunity to uncover the full scope of Syria's chemical weapons programme and to eliminate it in line with the CWC. In February 2025, the OPCW Director-General visited Syria and held separate meetings with the Syrian President and Foreign Minister. They expressed Syria's recognition of all OPCW mandates, including the identification of perpetrators of chemical weapons use in Syria and reaffirmed Syria's full commitment to fulfilling its obligations under the CWC. In March 2025, the Syrian Foreign Minister visited the OPCW and addressed the Executive Council, where he renewed Syria's commitment to the Convention.
Since the visit by the Director-General to Damascus in February 2025, the OPCW Technical Secretariat deployed several times to Syria, involving visits to suspected locations, sampling, interviews, collection of documents related to Syria's chemical weapons programme, and coordination.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention's entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
In 2023, the OPCW verified that all chemical weapons stockpiles declared by the 193 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1997 - totalling 72,304 metric tonnes of chemical agents - have been irreversibly destroyed under the OPCW's strict verification regime.
For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize.
