Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
The Hague, SANA-Syria’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons(OPCW), Ambassador Milad Atieh, stressed that the US and some Western countries have turned the organization into an arena for settling their aggressive colonial geopolitical scores with some countries that do not conform to their policies.
Delivering a speech before the 106th Session of the OPWC Executive Council, Atieh said “This organization is no longer capable to achieve its purpose, and it has become difficult to restore its credibility and carry out the tasks assigned to it.
Ambassador Atieh reiterated “Syria has implemented all of its obligations pursuant to the process of its accession to the Convention, and has exerted its utmost efforts and worked with diligence, commitment, credibility and transparency during the past eleven years. It has fully cooperated with the Technical Secretariat of the Organization and its teams and provided all the facilitations required for the success of its missions. During the period from November 2023 to May 2024, three rounds of consultations were held between the experts of the Syrian National Authority and the Declaration Assessment Team, during which Syria provided all the cooperation and facilitations required of it to make this team’s mission a success, not only from a logistical standpoint, but also by providing all the substantive information required. The consultations resulted in resolving three outstanding issues in the Syrian initial declaration. Despite all this, the Organization’s Technical Secretariat and some Western countries are trying to anticipate the results of those ongoing consultations between Syria and the teams of Technical Secretariat, by making politicized accusations that have no basis at all. Accusing Syria of non-cooperation and that it is still hiding a chemical program.”
He highlighted “Syria confirms that Western countries continue to violate the provisions of the Convention, and to exert all forms of pressure on the Technical Secretariat of the Organization. They refuse to hear any opinion that contradicts their directives or that does not serve their political agendas. The adoption and passing of the decision of the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of States Parties in June 2018, and the resulting establishment of an illegal Team constituted a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Convention. There are many examples of these violations, the most recent of which was the violation of what was stipulated in Paragraph 23 of Article VIII of the Convention, by excluding the Russian Federation from membership of the Executive Council, in addition to adopting many politicized decisions through voting and moving away from consensus.
Ambassador Atieh went on to say” Syria affirms support for the State of Palestine’s request to investigate incidents of the Zionist entity’s use of chemical weapons against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, and call on the Technical Secretariat to move and carry out its tasks in accordance with its mandate, as the Technical Secretariat has moved in other places. The excuse that there is no evidence and that the security situation does not allow for investigation is unacceptable, and demonstrates double standards.
“Chemical terrorism constitutes one of the grave dangers to international peace and security. What we regret is that the Technical Secretariat of the Organization, as an international Organization, has ignored all international reports issued by the United Nations, and those submitted by committees and specialized teams to the Security Council, all of which confirm that the groups enlisted on the Security Council’s lists as terrorist entities, such as the Organization of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham which is Al-Nusra Front (formerly) and the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have been able to possess advanced weapons and air systems, including chemical weapons that have been used by terrorists on multiple occasions.” Atieh underlined.
These reports confirm the warnings issued by Syria since 2011, and the Notes in which Syria informed the Security Council, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW, of the preparations that terrorists are making in Syria to use chemical weapons, and of multiple cases in which these weapons have been used, in more than one incident against civilian citizens and members of the Syrian Arab Army, without these notes receiving any attention from the Organization’s Technical Secretariat, he added.
“Syria calls on all States Parties to the Convention to adhere to what is stipulated in Paragraph 18 of Security Council Resolution 2118, and all decisions issued by the Executive Council of the Organization and the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, all of which emphasize refraining from providing any form of support for Non-State actors that attempt to develop nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and their means of delivery, or to acquire, manufacture, possess, transport, transfer or use such weapons and means.” The ambassador stated, adding “In this regard, we point out that the remaining strongholds of international terrorism on Syrian territory are spread in the areas under the control of the American and Turkish occupations in Northeastern, Northwestern, and Southeastern Syria.”
“The decision that Western countries worked to impose and pass at the 28th Session of the Conference of States Parties for the year 2023, falls within the framework of illegal and immoral unilateral coercive measures, which represents the will of 69 States Parties to the Convention out of 193 states, in flagrant violation of the provisions of the Convention. Articles 10 and 11 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and in furtherance of imposing more illegal coercive measures, which, with their wide-ranging effects, constitute a direct and comprehensive war against the human rights and humanitarian needs of all Syrians, and undermines the means to restore their security, stability and livelihoods.” Atieh concluded.
