Statement by the OPCW Director-General on Syria

For the first time in the history of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in April 1997, there are serious concerns that chemical weapons might be used. The CWC’s Preamble, which embodies the Convention’s object and purpose, expresses the determination “… for the sake of all mankind, to exclude completely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons …”

As you know the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has the responsibility not only to implement the Convention’s provisions but also to secure its goals, which include the prevention of the use of chemical weapons by anyone.

In fulfilling my own responsibilities as Director-General of the OPCW I have written yesterday to the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Walid Al-Moualem, urging his Government to accede to the Convention without delay. 

In making this appeal, I have drawn attention to the fact that the international community has advanced significantly towards the total elimination of chemical weapons from the world and that the possibility of their use is completely contrary to global sentiment, which is united in condemning chemical weapons as abhorrent.

I have also recalled the fact that, as a Party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol, Syria has accepted the legal obligation to respect the universally endorsed norm against the use of chemical weapons. 

At this critical time, Syria has an opportunity to assure the international community that it repudiates chemical weapons by agreeing to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The acceptance of the Convention by States enables the OPCW to conduct verification activities in those countries, including verifying the destruction of chemical weapons that they might possess.