Note: A full summary of today’s Security Council meeting on Syria (chemical weapons) will be made available upon completion.
Briefing
ADEDEJI EBO, Deputy to the High Representative of the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, briefing the Council on behalf of the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, noted that, since the last consideration of the implementation of Council resolution 2118 (2013), his Office has been in regular contact with its counterparts in the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), consistent with established practice. The OPCW Declaration Assessment Team has continued its efforts to clarify all outstanding issues regarding Syria’s initial declaration and subsequent declarations, but the OPCW Technical Secretariat has not been able to organize the twenty-fifth round of consultations between the Team and the Syrian National Authority.
He noted that the outcome of the first visit, from 17 to 22 January, of a reduced team of Declaration Assessment Team members to Syria for limited in-country activities was reported to States parties of the Chemical Weapons Convention in March. The outcome of the second deployment, from 12 to 19 April, will be reported to the OPCW Executive Council in due course. Syria’s full cooperation with the Technical Secretariat is essential to closing all outstanding issues. Considering the identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain unresolved, the declaration submitted by Syria still cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, he said.
Turning to the inspections of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre’s Barzah and Jamrayah facilities, he noted that the OPCW Technical Secretariat continues to plan the next round of inspections, slated for 2023, voicing regret that Syria has yet to provide sufficient technical information or explanations that would enable the closing of the issue related to the detection of a Schedule 2 chemical at the Barzah facilities in November 2018. The Technical Secretariat also awaits information related to the unauthorized movement of cylinders in Douma on 7 April 2018, he said, once again calling on Syria to respond with urgency to all the Technical Secretariat’s requests. On the invitation for an in-person meeting extended by the OPCW Director-General to Syria’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, the Technical Secretariat stands ready to engage further on an agreed agenda for the meeting through the agreed channel.
On 28 June, the OPCW Technical Secretariat issued a report of the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission regarding incidents of alleged use of toxic chemicals as a weapon in Kharbit Massasneh on 7 July 2017 and 4 August 2017, he said. The report concluded that the information obtained and analysed in line with the Mission’s mandate did not provide reasonable grounds to determine that toxic chemicals were used as a weapon in the reported incidents. The Mission is currently preparing upcoming deployments and will report to the Executive Council on the results of its work in due course. Reiterating the use of chemical weapons is a grave violation of international law, he stressed: “We must make every effort to ensure the continued resilience of the taboo against these horrific weapons. Those responsible for such attacks must be identified and held accountable, for the sake of the victims and as a deterrent to future chemical warfare.”
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