Ambassador Attia: What Syria has been exposed to within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons raises questions about the latter's ability to carry out its tasks

The Hague-Sana

Ambassador Milad Attia, the permanent representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, confirmed that what Syria has been subjected to during the past years within the organization raises serious questions about the organization’s ability to carry out its mandate under the Chemical Weapons Convention, as it is being used as a tool to implement the political agendas of some Western countries against state parties. in the agreement.

Attia said in a statement delivered during the opening session of the 100th session of the Executive Council of the Organization in The Hague yesterday: “Syria welcomed this year the twenty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Chemical Weapons Convention as the first multilateral agreement to eliminate a class of weapons of mass destruction, and based on its deep belief that This agreement constitutes the first multilateral disarmament mechanism in the world and provides for the elimination of an entire class of weapons of mass destruction led by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, whose task is to implement the provisions of this agreement.”

Attia added: “What regrets us is that, since 2018, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body in charge of implementing the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, has been used as a tool to implement the political agendas of some Western countries against states party to the agreement, as those well-known countries have exploited it to make false accusations and take unjust decisions that clearly contradict each other. The texts of the agreement use the methods of domination, blackmail, pressure, and passing decisions through voting, and fear has become serious about the future of this organization and its lofty technical goals if this approach continues, in addition to the state of polarization and division experienced by the organization.

Attia said: “My delegation regrets that this technical organization has again involved geopolitical and security issues of a regional and international nature and diverted it from the goals for which it was established,” adding: “The United States of America and some Western countries have repeated with the Russian Federation the same scenarios they used with Syria over the past ten years.” It encourages the fabrication of plays on the use of chemical weapons or preparing for the use of these weapons to accuse the Russian forces of them, as it used to do with the Syrian government, then move on to directing baseless accusations to the Russian forces during the special military operation that Russia is currently carrying out in Ukraine in defense of its security. and its citizens.”

He pointed out that these countries have ignored all documented information and evidence provided by Russia on what the Ukrainian forces are doing with the support of Western countries and other parties to prepare for plays of using chemical weapons in Ukraine to accuse the Russian forces of.

Attia stressed that the legitimate Russian Federation has the right to defend its national security, independence, stability, integrity and territorial integrity and to keep the strategic dangers away from its people and citizens, pointing out that Syria's supportive stance for the Russian special military operation in Ukraine was and will remain based on well-established political, moral and legal considerations and principles.

He continued, "What is required of the United States of America and its allies today is to stop its hostile, hard-line stance against Russia, push it towards a reckless strategy of confrontation, and take into account the strategic interests of the Russian Federation."

Attia added: “As a result, Syria sees that those who bear responsibility for the chaos and bloodshed are the Western countries as a result of their policies aimed at controlling other peoples in Ukraine and in different parts of the world, and the persistence of those countries by imposing immoral unilateral economic coercive measures and sending all kinds of weapons and mercenaries (to whom Including terrorists who were in Syria) to Ukraine without any calculations, indicating that the last person who has the right to talk about interfering in the internal affairs of countries is the United States of America and its allies from Western countries. In many countries in this world.

Attia continued: "We do not forget what they did in Syria and they are doing now. There are thousands of victims because of them, and they destroyed infrastructure, supported terrorism and imposed economic terrorism since 2011 until now."

Attia pointed out 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 circumstances, and Syria faithfully and credibly implemented its sovereign decision to finish the Syrian chemical file, and that was 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, adding: “But we say with regret …What Syria has been subjected to during the past years within the organization has raised a serious question for 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 because the organization has turned into a tool for political manipulation that distanced it from its professionalism and thus Its credibility, especially the approach taken by Western countries by passing decisions in the decision-making bodies of the organization through voting, the absence of consensus, and the lack of respect for the opinions of other countries.”

Attia said: “In light of this, we are deeply concerned about the state of affairs, as it has become necessary to stop this continuous decline in the course of the organization’s work and to embark on a serious and urgent basis to correct it in order to return it to the implementation of its mandate entrusted to it...Despite the difficult circumstances that Syria is going through. As a result of the economic war waged by the United States and some Western countries, represented by the immoral and inhumane unilateral coercive measures imposed on them, which have had a significant impact on the economic and social conditions of the Syrian citizens, in addition to the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, Syria has not stopped fully cooperating with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, its technical secretariat and its teams. in fulfillment of its obligations.

Attia explained that Syria faced a historically unprecedented campaign of skepticism and false accusations of not cooperating with the organization and its technical secretariat. The Syrian chemical file to serve its political purposes represented in exerting pressure on Syria. Nevertheless, Syria continued its full positive cooperation with the organization and committed itself to an organized dialogue with the declaration evaluation team through rounds of consultations that amounted to 24 rounds with the aim of ending the remaining outstanding technical issues.

Attia pointed out that it was remarkable what was recently stated in the reports of the technical secretariat of the organization of false and baseless accusations, in which she indicated that Syria is obstructing the work of the technical secretariat and that it does not want to hold the round of consultations No. (25) between the experts of the National Committee and the declaration evaluation team, when the truth is "Syria welcomed all the proposals of the Technical Secretariat, based on its firm keenness to end the file of outstanding issues, and expressed its welcome and its serious desire to close this file forever."

He added: "It has become a right for Syria to announce that whoever obstructs holding the round of consultations (25) and resolving outstanding issues is the organization's technical secretariat and whoever dictates its policies from well-known countries against Syria. The Hague and Beirut, while affirming their sovereign right to request the legitimate replacement of one of the experts of this team with any other expert that the secretariat deems appropriate.

Attia continued: Syria, 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, it cooperated with the teams of this mission and provided it with the full facilities required to make its missions successful. The parties’ states have proven bias, unprofessionalism and falsification of facts in more than one report they issued, for example the report of the Khan Sheikhoun incident (2017), the Aleppo incident (2018), the Saraqib incident (2018), the Duma incident (2018) and the Kafr Zita incident report (2016), noting that such This approach will not lead to fair and objective results and conclusions.

Attia said: “In this context, we stress the need for the mission to overcome the flaws related to its approach and working methods, respect the provisions of the agreement, and adhere to professional standards and the document of terms of reference that were agreed upon with Syria. My country’s government also believes that, after all these professional scandals, it has become unacceptable to remain silent about The fact-finding mission continues to work according to those wrong methods, as the praise of this mission’s reports, its professionalism and its integrity by some well-known countries falls within the framework of using the reports of this mission to exert more pressure on Syria and cover up the crimes of the terrorists and their affiliate (the White Helmets) group in this field.” .

Attia stressed that Syria still maintains its firm position on the “investigation and identification team that lacks legitimacy.” Therefore, it, along with other countries, does not recognize the legitimacy of this team and its work, and rejects any outputs issued or those that will be issued by it in the future, based on its respect, adherence to, and commitment to the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Attia said: “The expansion of chemical terrorist threats constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security, and no country is immune from this serious threat.. In this context, Syria confirms that the behavior of some of the parties’ states in covering up the crimes and practices of terrorist groups in Syria encouraged these terrorists to commit More heinous crimes against Syrian citizens, including the use of toxic materials over the past nine years, and Syria has been informing you about the continuation of terrorist groups and the “White Helmets” terrorist group in preparing for the plays of the use of chemical weapons, especially in the countryside of Idlib, Aleppo, Hama and Lattakia, to be accused by the Syrian government.

Attia added: In this context, Syria affirms that achieving the 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 the Israeli occupation to join this agreement and place its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons under international control. Unfortunately, countries claiming their keenness on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons impede any effort 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.

Attia said that Syria has always called 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 people and preventing them from using chemistry for such purposes. Peaceful in violation of the provisions of the Convention and international law.

Attia concluded his statement by emphasizing Syria's keenness to continue implementing its commitments under its accession to the agreement and cooperation with the organization in an atmosphere of mutual trust and commitment to standards of integrity and impartiality and not to submit to the pressure and politicization approach practiced by the United States of America and its Western allies with the aim of influencing the work of the organization and facilitating it to achieve its political interests.

The session was attended by Dr. Louay Al-Auji, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Organization.

The 100th session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons began its work yesterday in The Hague, in the presence of 41 member states of the Executive Council.