Western countries on Monday called on Syria to allow in chemical arms inspectors, saying Damascus continued to breach its obligations to the world’s toxic weapons watchdog.
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Syria faces fresh pressure at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) after refusing a visa for a member of an inspection team that was meant to deploy to Damascus later this month.
“It is imperative that Syria issues visas... without obstruction or delay,” Britain’s ambassador Joanna Roper said at a meeting at The Hague of the OPCW’s executive council of member states.
Roper also called on Syria to “explain” the fate of two chlorine cylinders identified as evidence in a chemical weapons attack on the town of Douma in 2018.
OPCW director general Fernando Arias said the watchdog “noted with concern” the delays in discussions with Damascus.
The regulator would not send the inspection team to Syria unless it got visas for all members, he said.
Arias added that Syria’s declaration on its remaining chemical weapons “cannot be considered accurate and complete” due to what he called “gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain unresolved.”
As of September 2021, 85 OPCW Member States had submitted declarations for declarable facilities or activities for 2020, involving over 5,400 sites. Since its establishment, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has conducted more than 4,100 inspections of industrial sites to verify that the production and use of chemicals are intended solely for peaceful purposes.
As the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW, with its 193 Member States, oversees the global endeavour to permanently eliminate chemical weapons. Since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997, it is the most successful disarmament treaty eliminating an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.
Over 98% of all declared chemical weapon stockpiles have been destroyed under OPCW verification. For its extensive efforts in eliminating chemical weapons, the OPCW received the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. ■