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Raul Garcia Hemonnet
According to the OPCW, chemical weapons have practically disappeared from the war arsenals of states. The organization has verified the destruction of 98% of the weapons of this type declared by the possessor states. Even so, the threat of hostile uses of chemical agents, for terrorist purposes or for political assassinations, is still present today.
The professor of Public International Law and International Relations of the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Vicente Garrido Rebolledo, has recently been elected as a member of the OPCW Education and Dissemination Committee. The URJC teacher thus becomes the first Spanish member of this committee. Vicente Garrido has more than 30 years of experience in this field and has been an advisor on the subject to two United Nations Secretary Generals: Ban Ki Moon and Antonio Guterres. For this professor, the appointment means "trusting me as an academic, since the candidacy has been presented by Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I have become, due to my career spanning several decades, an expert in this field." Garrido Rebolledo highlights the milestone of being the first Spaniard to form part of the Committee, since, like all those who depend on the United Nations, it has fifteen members distributed by country and on a parity basis, "my candidacy has been presented by Europe and it is complicated, because there are many very good experts in France, Germany, or the United Kingdom”.
Beyond disarmament
As of January 1, 2022, the functions of Vicente Garrido Rebolledo in the OPCW will focus, like that of the other members of the committee, on the development of initiatives aimed at training and disseminating information on the work of the OPCW in the world. “This is a very unknown job, which goes beyond the disarmament that has had its last example in the war in Syria. Although almost all chemical weapons have disappeared from arsenals, the use of chemical substances for terrorist purposes and even political assassinations is being seen. They are non-inventory substances or even that are in the reserve of the states. We must raise awareness, explain, establish communication channels with society so that this work is known”, explains the URJC teacher
For Vicente Garrido, the idea that Spain currently has about chemical weapons is distorted by movies and series, "many times, in the conferences in which I participate I find that chemical agents are confused with biological or bacteriological agents and they do not know, for example, the effects of the military use of hydrochloric acid in Syria”, explains this professor.
Spain does a great job that is very unknown
For Vicente Garrido, who has often been an advisor to the authorities, Spain is the great unknown in the global fight against chemical weapons and non-proliferation, "Spain has been the only country that, when it was a member of the Council of United Nations Security, chaired the three Non-proliferation committees. The role of Spain in the issue of arms control is important but little known. We are a non-nuclear country, we do not have this type of weapon and we are one of the most active in this fight”, indicates the teacher.
An important milestone for the PDI of the URJC, which accredits the excellence of the University's teachers in fields as important as the non-proliferation of chemical threats in the world.