📋 Tender Overview
The latest report from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), transmitted to the Security Council on 26 November, once again demonstrates the lack of real progress towards eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons programme. These are the words in which Japan summed up this morning the assessment of a majority of Council members, following the monthly briefing by the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on the latest developments in the file relating to the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic.
In her briefing on the status of implementation of Council resolution 2118 (2013), on the elimination of the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu stressed that Syria’s full cooperation with the OPCW Technical Secretariat is essential to resolve outstanding issues. “Given the gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies identified and not resolved, the Technical Secretariat considers that the declaration submitted by Syria still cannot be considered accurate and complete under the Chemical Weapons Convention,” she said, before reiterating her call on the Syrian authorities to cooperate and respond urgently to the requests made to it.
Questions about large quantities of chemical warfare agents
Ms. Nakamitsu recalled that to date, the OPCW Declarations Assessment Team has identified 26 outstanding issues, 19 of which are unresolved, including recently opened issues regarding the development and large-scale production of chemical weapons at two facilities that had previously been declared as never having been active. These issues are all the more “concerning” because they involve large quantities of chemical warfare agents and munitions whose fate cannot be fully verified by the OPCW. They also involve potentially significant quantities of chemical warfare agents whose production has not been declared by Syria to the OPCW Technical Secretariat.
In response, Syria assured that it had fulfilled all its obligations under the Convention, to which it acceded more than 11 years ago. It also reaffirmed its commitment to continue its cooperation with the OPCW and its Technical Secretariat. In this regard, the Syrian delegation referred to the last three monthly reports submitted by the Syrian National Authority, the information and scientific explanations provided on the samples taken by the Declarations Assessment Team last May, as well as the technical support provided to the OPCW inspection team that visited facilities at the Scientific Studies and Research Centre. On this basis, it called for an end to any “political manipulation” of this issue.
Along the same lines, the Russian Federation regretted that the OPCW Technical Secretariat "obediently continues to carry out the Western order to denigrate Syria" by promoting "old-fashioned theses" on the alleged non-compliance by Damascus with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. The fact that the Syrians continue to cooperate in good faith with the OPCW cannot be ignored, the delegation argued. This view was shared by the African members of the Council (Algeria, Mozambique, Sierra Leone), who welcomed "fruitful cooperation", while encouraging the parties to continue on this path to bring the file to a lasting conclusion.
China, which is also in favour of this cooperation, has nevertheless called on the OPCW to remain neutral, calling on it to ensure that its investigations guarantee the viability of the evidence and the credibility of its conclusions in order to preserve the technical nature of its work.
Syria called upon to provide plausible and verifiable answers
These arguments have been refuted by several other Council members. After 28 rounds of consultations between the Declaration Assessment Team and the Syrian National Authority, the outstanding issues do not concern points of form or procedure, France insisted. If Syria wants to regain its rights and privileges as a State party to the Convention, it must provide verifiable and scientifically plausible answers, while fulfilling its obligations under the resolutions of this Council, Switzerland argued.
Placing the Syrian chemical weapons issue in the context of the ongoing escalation in north-west Syria, the United Kingdom noted that independent international investigations have shown that Syria has used such weapons on at least 38 occasions since 2013. “As tensions continue to run high in the Middle East, Syria’s undeclared chemical weapons pose an unacceptable risk.” In the same vein, the United States stressed that Syria’s chemical weapons programme is not “a relic of the past” but a threat to international peace and security. “There can be no impunity for those who use these weapons,” they argued.
In turn, Turkey, invited by the Council, deplored Damascus's continued failure to provide a full and transparent account of its chemical weapons programme. Beyond the expected answers to outstanding questions, it hoped that the elimination of Syrian chemical weapons would be accompanied by a real commitment to advance the political process in the country.
Irrefutable evidence of the use of chemical weapons
In this tense climate, both the Russian Federation and Syria criticized the choice of civil society speakers made by the US presidency of the Council, including during the last two sessions which focused on Syria and the impact of the war in Ukraine on children. The Russian delegation denounced the interventions of "propagandists", who contribute nothing to the debate and "turn the Council into a circus".
That stance did not prevent the Director-General of the Syria Chemical Violations Documentation Center from addressing the Council this morning. He said his organization had documented no fewer than 20 instances of chemical weapons use in Syria, with an estimated death toll of more than 14,000 civilians. The evidence of chemical weapons use was, he said, irrefutable.
