The Hague-Sana
Syria's permanent representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Milad Attia, confirmed that Syria faced a historically unprecedented campaign of skepticism and false accusations of not cooperating with the organization, pointing out that what it was exposed to during the past years within the organization raised a serious question about the organization's ability to carry out its mandate under the Convention and the extent Its ability to withstand the pressures it is exposed to by the United States of America and its Western allies.
Ambassador Attia said in Syria’s statement during the opening session of the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in Vienna today: Achieving universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention represents a very important step in ensuring the establishment of an effective global system against chemical weapons, but this matter will not be achieved. Without obligating Israel to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and other international agreements related to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
Attia added: The Syrian Arab Republic regrets that the sponsoring countries of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons obstruct any endeavor to establish a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, in order to protect Israel and keep it outside any international control over its nuclear, chemical and biological facilities. It also warns against the expansion of the area Chemical terrorist threats It calls on all member states of the organization to strengthen international efforts to confront this real threat to the security and stability of the member states.
Ambassador Attia continued: Syria affirms that the behavior of some states parties in covering up the crimes and practices of terrorist groups in Syria has encouraged those terrorists to commit more heinous crimes against Syrian citizens and to prepare to commit new crimes using toxic materials to accuse the Syrian government of, as Syria has been informing you The terrorist organizations and the “White Helmets” terrorist group continue to prepare for theatrical use of chemical weapons, especially in the countryside of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
Attia indicated that Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 voluntarily and in good faith, out of its belief in rejecting the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstance, and Syria faithfully and credibly implemented its sovereign decision to finish the Syrian chemical file, and that was already done in record time. And it accomplished what some of the countries acceding to the agreement had not accomplished many years before, despite the very difficult and complicated circumstances that Syria has gone through.
Attia said: What Syria was subjected to during the past years within the organization raised a serious question to us about the organization's ability to carry out its mandate under the agreement and the extent of its ability to withstand the pressures it is exposed to by the United States of America and its Western allies.
Attia explained that this serious challenge does not concern Syria only, but rather is a broader global problem of a systemic nature, because the organization has turned into a tool for political manipulation that has distanced it from its professionalism and thus its credibility. To stop this continuous decline in the course of the organization's work and to begin seriously and urgently to correct it to return it to the implementation of its mandate entrusted to it as the basic and neutral pillar of the chemical weapons non-proliferation regime.
Attia added: With all that, Syria renews its keenness to pursue positive and constructive cooperation with the Technical Secretariat, and as evidence of its seriousness, it welcomed the convening of a meeting between Dr. This meeting.
Attia continued: Despite the difficult circumstances that Syria is going through as a result of the economic war waged by the United States of America and some Western countries, represented by the illegal unilateral coercive measures imposed on it, which have had a significant impact on the economic and social conditions of Syrian citizens, in addition to the outbreak of the “Covid 19” epidemic, Syria has not stopped. For full cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, its technical secretariat and its teams in the implementation of its obligations.
Attia pointed out that Syria faced a historically unprecedented campaign of skepticism and false accusations of not cooperating with the organization and its technical secretariat, as some countries pre-empted the results of technical consultations that are still ongoing between the Syrian National Committee and the declaration evaluation team, taking advantage of what was stated in some reports.
Related to the Syrian declaration and other reports issued by the organization in this regard, despite Syria’s assertion that some of the technical issues being discussed between the Syrian National Committee and the declaration’s evaluation team are related to different scientific interpretations and therefore it is a process that cannot be resolved in a distorted and selective manner, and therefore no one has the right to jump to accusations directly On matters still subject to debate and research.
Attia said: The behavior of those countries blatantly contradicts the provisions of the agreement, the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, and it is nothing but an attempt to employ the organization and the remaining technical aspects in the Syrian chemical file to serve its political purposes represented in applying pressure on Syria. Despite all that, Syria continued its cooperation Totally positive with the organization and committed to a structured dialogue with the advertising evaluation team through rounds of consultations, which amounted to twenty-four rounds with the aim of ending the remaining outstanding technical issues.
Attia added: Some Western countries have recently built positions and launched false accusations based on incorrect information received in some fabricated reports that suggested that Syria does not want to hold the 25th round of consultations between the experts of the National Committee and the Declaration’s evaluation team, while the truth is that Syria welcomed the holding of this round and informed The organization's technical secretariat is ready to receive the announcement evaluation team, based on its firm keenness to end the file of outstanding issues, and expressed its welcome and serious desire to close this file forever.
Attia stressed that Syria had expressed its deep surprise at the persistence of some countries by making false accusations against Syria and ignoring the attack carried out by the Israeli enemy on one of the Syrian sites on June 8, 2021 and the resulting losses. He also expressed Syria's surprise at not condemning the organization and some countries for this aggression or Even the reference to those who did it, neither from near nor from afar.
Attia said: Not mentioning the aggressor is nothing but an open attempt to cover up the aggressive Israeli practices against the sovereignty of a member state of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Rather, this silence is a message of encouragement to Israel to continue its aggression against Syria, in addition to its unlimited support for terrorist groups that Chemical weapons were used against the Syrian people and the most heinous crimes were committed against innocent Syrian civilians.
He added: The Syrian Arab Republic, along with many other countries, on more than one occasion expressed objective observations regarding the work of the fact-finding mission, and with all that, Syria cooperated with the teams of this mission and provided it with all the facilities required for the success of its missions.
Ambassador Attia stressed that the test of the fact-finding mission's work and its credibility does not come through letters and words of praise for it with political motives and backgrounds, but rather it must come through the reports issued or to be issued by the mission regarding the many incidents that it investigated or investigated.
Attia said: This mission has failed in more than one test, and the evidence for this is clear to all the parties, and its bias and unprofessionalism has been proven in more than one report it issued, for example the report of the Khan Sheikhoun incident 2017, Aleppo incident 2018, Saraqib incident 2018, Douma incident 2018, and what happened to the report of this incident Of scandals and fraud evident to all.
Attia made it clear that such an approach will not lead to fair and objective results and conclusions, and we stress in this context the need for the mission to overcome the flaws related to its approach and working methods, respect the provisions of the agreement, and abide by its professional standards and the document of terms of reference that were agreed upon with Syria.
Ambassador Attia stressed that Syria believes that, after all these professional scandals, it has become unacceptable to remain silent about the fact-finding mission’s continuation to work according to those wrong methods, and stresses that those who stand in the way of correcting them are the American and Western pressures, with the aim of using the non-objective reports of this mission to accuse the Syrian government Using chemical weapons and covering up the crimes of terrorists and their “White Helmets” group in this field.
Attia said: Syria still considers the decision to establish the "Investigation and Identification Team" lacking legitimacy because it did not enjoy consensus, but rather the support of less than half of the states parties to the agreement, and was not based on the provisions of the agreement, and set a dangerous precedent by entrusting a technical organization with issues that fall within the powers and jurisdiction of the Security Council for this. Syria, along with other countries, does not recognize the legitimacy of this team and its work and refuses its funding and access to confidential information provided by the Syrian authorities to the organization and to the Security Council, and thus rejects any outputs issued and those that will be issued by it in the future. provisions of the agreement.
Attia pointed out that the United States of America and some Western countries are again seeking to politicize the work of the organization and exacerbate division in it through attempts to pass the draft resolution entitled “Understanding on the Use of Chemicals Affecting the Central Nervous System in the form of aerosols for the purposes of law enforcement.” In the opinions of many countries on this project, the sponsoring countries expressed their unwillingness to engage in an objective professional dialogue on this issue and to search for solutions acceptable to all parties.
Attia added: This draft resolution violates the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and in this regard, Syria renews its position, which it expressed alongside both the People's Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the working document, which included a clear and explicit position rejecting the aforementioned draft resolution, and at the same time Syria calls on all the parties to reject it.
With regard to the draft resolution related to the organization’s program and budget for the years 2022-2023, Ambassador Attia indicated that it contains many concerns for a large number of delegations, as there are issues of concern to many States parties, in addition to controversial issues related to the financing of teams that lack legitimacy, which should have been taken into account and approved by consensus, explaining that Syria calls on all member states to be aware of these serious concerns and to work towards restoring the spirit of consensus regarding the adoption of the organization's program and budget for the year 2022-2023.
At the conclusion of his statement, Ambassador Attia said: Syria calls for international cooperation to confront the illegal restrictions imposed by some well-known countries on transferring scientific technology for peaceful purposes to developing countries and subjecting them to illegal unilateral coercive measures against some other countries with the aim of preventing them from achieving economic and scientific development for their peoples and preventing them from Using chemistry for peaceful purposes in clear violation of the provisions of the Convention and international law.
The Conference of the States Parties began its work today at the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague, with the participation of about 193 countries, including Syria, and will continue until next Friday.
The Syrian delegation participating in the conference, in addition to Ambassador Attia, includes the deputy permanent representative to the organization, Dr. Louay Al-Auji, and the attaché, Basem Al-Hanoun.
To follow SANA news on Telegram: https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency