Let me start by welcoming the strong commitment of the Syrian government to turn the page of history. We applaud Syria’s determination to ensure once and for all that the Assad era chemical weapons programme is destroyed.
The UK is greatly encouraged by Syria’s operational and logistical support to the deployments carried out by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, including access to sites and people, and by Syria’s commitment to engage with the international community.
We also welcome the OPCW Technical Secretariat’s deployments to Syria in March and April. The persistence and professionalism shown by OPCW staff in Syria has been exceptional. As has the consistently high quality of the Technical Secretariat’s work on this important file in a very challenging technical environment.
Important progress has been made towards setting up OPCW offices in Syria and the collection and analysis of samples.
These are vital steps towards Syria’s full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and UN Security Council resolution 2118, which the Assad regime so flagrantly violated.
There is, however, President, much more work to do in a difficult operational environment.
Due to the secrecy and complexity of Assad’s illegal chemical weapons programme, the precise extent of the challenge ahead is still unknown.
Allow me to make three brief points.
Firstly, both the Syrian government and the OPCW will need to be operationally agile to address any proliferation or health risks found in inspecting sites of concern.
The OPCW’s role is vital. As mandated by the Chemical Weapons Convention and by resolution 2118, the OPCW must verify the Syrian-led declaration and destruction of any remaining elements of Assad’s chemical weapons programme.
Secondly, to achieve this, the OPCW will need technical, financial and logistical assistance from the international community.
The OPCW has provided States Parties with its estimated costs for its work in Syria.
The UK has already provided more than $1 million to the OPCW Syria Missions to support their immediate work and will look to provide further assistance.
We join High Representative Nakamitsu in encouraging others to also provide the necessary resources. In particular, President, we welcome Qatar’s role in representing Syria at the OPCW in The Hague.
Finally, military action by neighbouring states risks delaying OPCW deployments as well as the preservation of evidence at chemical weapons sites. We therefore urge Israel to de-escalate their actions in Syria.
President, we have a historic opportunity to rid Syria of Assad’s chemical weapons.
Let us do our part to support Syria and the OPCW, to enable the new Syrian government to finally close the file on the scourge of chemical weapons use, and on this dark chapter in Syria’s history.
