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| Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe |
The Environmental Protection Department (EPD), in conjunction with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), will be conducting a Regional Workshop on Assistance and Protection Training Under Article 10 of the Chemicals Weapon Convention (CWC), from Monday, July 16 until Friday, July 20, at the Regional Police Training Centre, Seawell, Christ Church.
Minister of the Environment and Drainage, Dr. Denis Lowe, will deliver the feature address during the opening ceremony which begins at 9:00 a.m., while EPD Director, Jeffrey Headley, will do the welcome address.
The training is being offered to CARICOM signatory states of the CWC as a means of capacity building that will guard against the threat of chemical weapons.
Chemical weapons are defined as devices that use chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm to human beings. They are usually classified as weapons of mass destruction, and can also extend to biological weapons.
Such weapons are also destructive to the environment and could result in vegetation being killed, while being radioactive to human beings.
The OPCW is responsible for ensuring that chemical weapons are eradicated, and strive for the criminalisation of the development or production and storage and use of chemical weapons throughout the world. It also strives to promote the peaceful usage of chemistry.
For Barbados and CARICOM member states, participation in the Convention shows a commitment to global peace. The Convention would also protect such countries against the threat of chemical weapons being used against them by other countries.