75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Security Council briefing on Syria Chemical Weapons
Statement by DPR Andre Lipand
August 4, New York
I would like to thank Deputy to the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Mr. Thomas Markram for his briefing and for the opportunity to discuss the latest updates on progress in the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons programme.
Unfortunately, however, the OPCW Director-General’s ninety-fourth report on the progress in the elimination of the chemical weapons in Syria does in fact not reflect much of a progress. The deployment of the Declaration Assessment Team was planned to take place in May, but is regrettably still on hold due to the lack of response by Syria.
The steps taken by the Syrian regime in addressing the identified gaps, inconsistencies, and discrepancies in the initial declaration remain clearly unsatisfactory. This lack of progress continues to pose a threat to the Syrian people and to international peace and security.
Mr. President, I would like to reiterate the importance of accountability. It is of utmost importance for the Security Council to provide a clear and united response to the outcomes of the independent and professional investigations by the JIM and the IIT. Holding those responsible to account and ensuring justice to the victims is needed to prevent such attacks from happening again. The Security Council needs to take clear steps in fulfilling its mandate and implementing its resolutions. The use of a weapon of mass destruction by anyone and anywhere is not and cannot become acceptable.
I would like to reiterate Estonia’s full support to the professional and impartial work of the OPCW and its Technical Secretariat. The organisation has demonstrated full dedication and integrity in fulfilling its task of upholding the norm against the use of chemical weapons. We call on the Syrian regime to cooperate fully with the OPCW Technical Secretariat and its investigative mechanisms.
Finally, the 20th of August will mark one year since the poisoning of Mr. Navalny with a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group. It is unacceptable that the circumstances of this poisoning still remain unclear. We continue to call on the Russian Federation to disclose, fully and in a transparent manner, all circumstances of the incident and to inform the Security Council accordingly.