Container ships unload at the Port of Maputo as trucks and trains carry cargo inland, part of a steady flow of goods connecting Mozambique's coast with markets across Southern Africa. In 2025 alone, the port handled 32 million tonnes of cargo, including chemicals used for legitimate purposes in agriculture and industry.
Those shipments are part of Helder Nhaca's work. An intelligence officer with Mozambique Customs, Nhaca helps assess chemical cargo entering the country, checking permits and authorisations and, when necessary, inspecting shipments.
Most days, it is a matter of ensuring that legitimate trade moves safely and according to the rules. But his position on the frontline of that trade also means knowing what to do if a routine shipment becomes a chemical emergency.
In August, Nhaca joined responders from seven other Portuguese-speaking States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for the Integrated Advanced Course and Exercise on Assistance and Protection for Portuguese-speaking counties, organised jointly by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Government of Brazil. Customs officials can be among the first authorities to encounter a chemical risk at a border or port. Participating in the training helped him understand not only how to recognise such a situation, but how to protect himself and others if it develops into an emergency.
The training focused on translating technical knowledge into practical emergency response capabilities. Participants built practical skills in the use of personal protective equipment, chemical detection and identification, sampling, decontamination, incident command, rescue operations in contaminated environments and the initial care of casualties, working through increasingly complex scenarios before a final field exercise under realistic, demanding conditions.
"Before this training, in case of an incident, many of us could have been contaminated because we didn't have the knowledge of what to do," Nhaca said. "Now we know how to act as first responders, how to protect ourselves and what we need to do. I feel much more prepared to face a situation like this."
Participants and instructors of the Integrated Advanced Course and Exercise on Assistance and Protection for Portuguese-speaking States Parties in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo: OPCW)
A shared language for emergency response
Eight countries took part: Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe from Africa; Portugal from Europe; Timor-Leste from Asia; and host nation Brazil from Latin America. Separated by thousands of kilometres and four continents, the participants were brought together by a common language -Portuguese - and a shared need to prepare for chemical emergencies.
"In English, we sometimes find it difficult to express ourselves or ask questions when we don't understand something," Nhaca said. "But in Portuguese, it is easier for us to ask questions, share our experiences and learn from each other. It also helped us build relationships with people we now know we can call if we need support."
Stronger networks, effective response
Preparedness is also about knowing who is at the other end of the phone. Chemical emergencies rarely fall within the responsibility of a single institution: an effective response depends on Customs officials, emergency responders, chemical defence specialists, and health workers understanding each other's roles and coordinating quickly.
For Nhaca, training alongside specialists from other institutions provided not only practical skills, but a clearer sense of whom to call when an incident requires expertise beyond his own. The relationships established through the course can therefore become part of the response capacity participants take home with them.
"Effective chemical emergency preparedness depends not only on technical expertise, but also on the professional networks that connect responders, experts and institutions, enabling them to share knowledge, build trust and act together when it matters most," said Rebecca Eapen, Head of the Assistance and Protection Branch of the OPCW.
Participants take part in a practical training session on chemical emergency response during the course in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: OPCW)
Building preparedness that lasts
The eight days in Rio de Janeiro were one stage in a longer process. The course forms part of an OPCW training cycle designed to build capability progressively, combining foundational learning, advanced practical training and exercises, and follow-up after participants return home.
For the Portuguese-speaking participants, the cycle began with online training from May to June, continued with the hands-on course and exercise in Rio de Janeiro, and will conclude with a follow-up webinar in December.
"By structuring the course as a cycle rather than a single event, the OPCW ensures that learning is reinforced over time, skills are progressively built and tested, and participants have the opportunity to translate training into concrete actions to enhance national preparedness, " Eapen said.
The objective extends beyond building the skills of the individuals who attend. By taking new knowledge and experience back to their institutions, participants can help strengthen preparedness more widely at the national level.
A global and regional push for preparedness
The Rio de Janeiro course is one piece of a much larger picture. Under Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW runs global, regional and tailored capacity-building programmes to help States Parties strengthen their ability to prepare for and respond to chemical emergencies.
Its impact also extends beyond the participating countries themselves: five of the eight countries involved - Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe - are also part of the OPCW Africa Programme, feeding the skills built in Rio de Janeiro directly into the Organisation's wider effort to strengthen chemical safety and security across the African continent.
These different approaches allow training to respond to regional, linguistic and technical needs while contributing to the same broader objective: building sustainable national capacity. Larger regional initiatives include CHEMEX GRULAC, the OPCW's flagship chemical emergency preparedness exercise for Latin America and the Caribbean, which most recently brought responders from 23 countries together in the Dominican Republic.
Participants prepare personal protective equipment during a practical chemical emergency response exercise. (Photo: OPCW)
From training to national capability
For Nhaca, that process has already begun. Since returning to Mozambique, he has reported on the training to Customs headquarters, prepared information for the country's National Authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention, and is preparing to share what he learned with colleagues.
The follow-up stage of the training cycle will bring participants together again in December to discuss how they have applied what they learned, identify challenges and continue the professional exchanges established during the course.
Back in Maputo, Nhaca has yet to encounter a chemical emergency in his Customs work. He hopes it stays that way. But if a routine inspection becomes something more serious, he says the training gave him something he didn't have before: a clearer sense of how to protect himself, how to respond, and who to call.
Participants practise casualty rescue and response procedures during a simulated chemical emergency exercise. (Photo: OPCW)
Background
Under Article X of the Chemical Weapons Convention, States Parties have the right to request and receive assistance and protection against the use or threat of use of chemical weapons. The OPCW supports States Parties in developing and strengthening the national capabilities they need to prevent, prepare for and respond to chemical incidents.
The OPCW and Portuguese-speaking countries have cooperated on assistance and protection capacity-building since 2005. The Memorandum of Understanding between the OPCW and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries provides an additional framework for strengthening implementation of the Convention and supporting participation in OPCW capacity-building activities.
Through its integrated and multi-regional approach, the OPCW's International Cooperation and Assistance Programme continues to support Member States in fulfilling their obligations under Article X of the CWC in strengthening collective capacity to prevent and respond to chemical threats.
As the implementing body for the CWC, 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 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.
