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Since its entry into force in 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and its associated implementing body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),1 have become an important mechanism for global action combating the use of chemical weapons against armed forces and civilian populations under any circumstances, as demonstrated in Syria.
To date, the primary focus of the OPCW, which currently has 192 member states, has been the identification and destruction of all existing chemical weapons arsenals and production facilities around the world.
With the anticipated elimination of all declared chemical weapons stockpiles by 2023, the OPCW is now engaged in a difficult and potentially turbulent process of review, planning, and decisionmaking likely to transform the nature and activities of the organization for decades to come. Although the future priorities of the OPCW have yet to be collectively agreed by its member states, an initial "vision paper" circulated by OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü in 2015 stated that "the operating environment of the...OPCW will change significantly over the coming decade. To stay relevant, the focus of the Organisation's activities will progressively have to be shifted from disarmament of chemical weapons to preventing their re-emergence."2
An essential element in the OPCW's effort to prevent the re-emergence of chemical weapons will be its responses to complex and evolving challenges concerning the appropriate regulation of toxic chemicals. One such challenge is the continuing rapid developments in and convergence of chemistry, biology, and other relevant scientific disciplines and associated technologies. Another is the potential desire from certain quarters for weapons employing toxic chemicals for use in operations in which civilians and fighters are in close proximity or are intermingled. In such situations, there are concerns that the lines separating law enforcement, counterinsurgency, and low-level conflict may become blurred.3 These issues are exemplified by the ongoing debates within the OPCW regarding appropriate regulation of incapacitating chemical agent weapons and riot control agents (RCAs).
Riot Control Agents
Riot control agents, commonly known as tear gases, are defined by the CWC as "any chemical not listed" in one of three schedules of restricted chemicals that can produce "rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure."4 Their use as a "method...