A public lecture  on the use of chemical weapons in wars and the complexities involved in  prohibiting its use will be given by Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q)   today at 6pm.
The lecture will focus on the role of the OPCW in prohibiting chemical weapons in Syria and his predictions for the future. The ongoing war in Syria has resulted in one of the biggest international concerns about the use of chemical weapons in recent times.
The event will be hosted in collaboration with the Qatari Ministry of Defence’s National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, the body responsible for implementing and raising awareness of international weapons conventions in Qatar.
 “Chemical weapons are an ongoing threat to safety and security in the region and beyond,” said senior assistant dean for faculty affairs and research administration at GU-Q,
Dr Kai-Henrik Barth, who helped organise the event. “We hope that events such as these can build a greater understanding of the challenges of preventing their use, and help raise awareness of the issue among our students and the wider community in Qatar.”
Uzumcu, who has served as director-general of the OPCW since 2010, has a history in international affairs, having previously served as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Turkey to the United Nations in Geneva. He has also represented Turkey at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Council, the Conference on Disarmament, and other international organisations. In 2013, he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the OPCW.
In a bid to increase familiarity with the conventions related to weapons of mass destruction, the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons and GU-Q also recently hosted an awareness workshop, which was attended by students from seven local universities.

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