75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Security Council meeting on Syria Chemical Weapons
Statement by DPR Andre Lipand
September 9, New York
First of all, allow me to thank India for their successful Presidency of the Council during August and to wish Ireland the very best for your chairmanship this month.
I thank the High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu for her briefing.
Last month, the 21st of August marked the eighth anniversary of chemical weapons attack that took place in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta. The attack remains one of the most horrendous, large-scale atrocities conducted during the Syrian conflict by the Assad regime against its own people. Thousands of individuals were killed and injured. The vast majority of them were civilians, including hundreds of children and women. It was an act in clear violation of international law.
Estonia strongly condemns the attacks in Ghouta, but also in Khan Sheikhoun, Douma, Ltamenah, Saraqib, and the numerous other instances that have taken place in Syria since the start of the conflict. Impunity for these atrocity crimes cannot be tolerated. Estonia continues to support accountability mechanisms to combat impunity that have been put in place by a wide UN membership, such as the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism and the Commission of Inquiry. The opening of criminal inquiries by judicial authorities in France, Germany and Sweden are encouraging steps towards ensuring justice for the victims of the Ghouta sarin attacks.
Turning to the OPCW Director-General’s monthly report, the outstanding issues with the initial declaration unfortunately persist and Syrian cooperation with the OPCW is deteriorating.
We note with concern that despite the OPCW Secretariat’s efforts, the next round of consultations has still not taken place. The Tripartite Agreement that facilitates the Secretariat’s mandated activities in Syria was, at the request of Syria, extended for only three months, hampering OPCW’s ability to plan and conduct its activities in the country. Failure to grant in a timley manner a visa for an OPCW staff member to be deployed in Damascus is not acceptable. Neither is the unauthorised movement of the two chlorine cylinders that were part of the evidentiary material of the Douma incident. In resolution 2118, this Council decided that Syria shall cooperate fully with the OPCW, including by complying with their relevant recommendations and providing the respective personnel access to and the right to inspect sites in order to fulfil their mandate. The implementation of this provision – paragraph 7 of the resolution – is clearly inadequate.
We positively note the prospect of a meeting between Director-General Arias and Mr Mekdad and hope this meeting can take place soon to instigate much needed progress in this file.
To conclude, we commend the OPCW and its Technical Secretariat’s 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, comply with the Security Council resolutions and international law.