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OPCW Names New Director-General
Janyuary/February 2026
Sabrina Dallafior of Switzerland was chosen the next director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) by the states-parties Nov. 27. She is the first woman appointed to the four-year position, which begins July 2026.
“As Director-General, I will accord the highest importance to upholding the norm against chemical weapons. Ensuring its long-term sustainability requires us to investigate all credible allegations of use, establishing the scientific facts, and to denounce all confirmed cases […] This is non-negotiable, as it touches the very core of the [Chemical Weapons] Convention,” Dallafior said in a statement released by the OPCW.
Currently, Dallafior is the Swiss ambassador to Finland. She has been a career diplomat since 2000 and has extensive multilateral experience regarding security and defense policy, disarmament, arms control, and nonproliferation.
Dallafior will succeed Fernando Arias, who has served as the fourth director-general since 2017. Under Arias, the OPCW has taken on investigations of chemical weapons use by the former government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the illegal use of riot-control agents during the war in Ukraine. He also oversaw the elimination of the last declared chemical weapons stockpile by the United States.—DARYL G. KIMBALL