The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, has noted the proposal to place the Syrian stockpile of chemical weapons under international control and the reactions it has evoked.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, has stated that he is considering urging the Security Council to demand the immediate transfer of Syria’s chemical weapons stocks to places inside Syria where they can be safely stored and destroyed, and has again urged that Syria should join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The OPCW is the implementing authority for the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans the development, production, stockpiling and use of these weapons. It obliges all States Parties to the treaty to declare and to destroy whatever chemical weapons they may possess under the international verification of the OPCW.
The Director-General recalled that the Convention was based on zero tolerance for chemical weapons. The OPCW is committed to promoting the universality of this norm and stands ready to support international efforts that would strengthen it.