It’s been more than 10 ten years since the Assad regime in Syria signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and pledged not only to never use chemical weapons, but agreed to the CWC’s prohibition against their development, production, stockpiling, and transfer. Over the decade, the regime’s cooperation with the Convention’s implementation body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the OPCW, has veered between spotty and nonexistent.
At a recent UN Security Council briefing, Adedeji Ebo, Director and Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, declared that Damascus’ declaration on its chemical weapons stockpiles cannot be considered accurate and complete because of unresolved gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies.
U.S. UN Alternative Representative Robert Wood pointed out that for a decade the United States, alongside most of the international community, has condemned the Assad regime’s repeated violations of the CWC, its multiple, independently confirmed uses of chemical weapons against the Syrian people, and its failure to fully declare and destroy its chemical weapons.
Ambassador Wood called recent reports by the OPCW on Syria “alarming” and “concerning.”
“As is well documented in these OPCW reports, the Syrian regime continues to obfuscate and impede the work of the OPCW and its various technical teams that seek to fully engage with Syria in carrying out their mandates,” he said. “The recent findings by the OPCW Declaration Assessment Team heighten our concern that the Syrian regime retains a residual chemical weapons capability.”
Ambassador Wood noted that the report of the Director General of the OPCW, Fernando Arias, comes after the OPCW Conference of the States Parties recommended that States take certain “collective measures” to prevent the transfer to Syria of dual-use chemicals and equipment.
“States Parties must act to prevent such items from falling into the [hands of the] Assad regime and non-state actors, particularly terrorist groups.”
“The threat posed to Syrians and the international community by Syria’s continuing non-compliance with the CWC and [UN Security] Council resolutions is alarming,” declared Ambassador Wood. “We are committed to work with this Council, in other multilateral fora, and with partner countries to address this threat and ensure the Assad regime never again terrorizes the people of Syria with chemical weapons.”
