Thank you, Mr President.
I thank the High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu and the OPCW Director-General Fernando Arias for their briefings. We very much appreciate, Mr Arias, that you could join us today. The regular sharing of information of the OPCW activities and investigations with the Council is indeed very valuable. We were grateful that you and the IIT coordinator, Ambassador Oñate, could brief the Council in May during Estonian presidency about the findings of the first IIT report and shed more light about this important investigation. Since the OPCW and this Council share the same objective of upholding the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons and supporting chemical disarmament, we need to have this close collaboration to move things forward in this file.
Let me start by reiterating Estonia’s support to the professional and impartial work of the OPCW Technical Secretariat. We have full confidence in the technical expertise and independence of its investigative mechanisms. It is most regretful that there are countries who deliberately work towards undermining the OPCW and thereby risking to weaken the international architecture against the use of chemical weapons. This is deeply concerning and unacceptable.
We cannot allow the norm against the chemical weapons to erode and the use of these weapons to become a normality. The use of novichok in 2018 in UK against the Skripals, and this year in Russia against the opposition politician Aleksei Navalnyi are very concerning developments. We urge Russia to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation and hold accountable those responsible for the crime. We also urge Russia to conclude with the OPCW necessary agreements for the swift deployment of the technical assistance mission.
Turning now to the eighty-sixth monthly report of the Director-General, we note with regret that the outstanding issues relating to Syria´s chemical weapons declaration persist. Whilst we welcome that another round of consultations between the Declaration Assessment Team and the Syrian authorities enable to close three outstanding issues related to the declaration, there are still nineteen remaining. Nineteen outstanding issues after six years and twenty-three rounds of consultations!
The fact is that after signing up to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 and taking the responsibility to declare all its chemical weapons stockpiles and facilities, the Syrian regime has failed to do so. It has deliberately concealed its production facilities and used these horrendous weapons in multiple occasions against its own people. Independent UN and OPCW investigative mechanisms have found the responsibility of the Syrian regime in seven cases.
Estonia strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Arab Air Force, as concluded by the first report of the IIT on 8 April 2020. Using chlorine and sarin, the Syrian Air Force conducted three chemical attacks in Ltamenah in 2017 in order to suppress the opposition and terrorise its people with blatant disregard to human lives and suffering.
Estonia welcomes the Executive Council decision of 9 July 2020 that set out clear and verifiable parameters for actions that the Syrian Arab Republic needed to take in order to return to full compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. It is very unfortunate and worrying that Syria failed to take the required steps.
We hope that once the OPCW Conference of State Parties resumes in April, it will take appropriate action on the non-compliance of the Executive Council decision and addresses the complete lack of cooperation with the OPCW on the part of Syria.
We also hope that this Council cannot stand by in the face of clear evidence that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian regime and takes action to uphold its resolutions and the UN Charter.
I thank you, Mister President.