Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 10 April 2014, Official Report, column 3778W, on Syria, what assessment his Department has made of the likelihood of President Assad complying with the agreed Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons timetable for the removal and destruction of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons.

Mr William Hague

The regime has missed all deadlines set by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Executive Council for the removal of chemicals from Syria, including their own deadline of 27 April 2014. Around 7.5 per cent of the materials remain. This means that the 30 June 2014 deadline set by the UN for the elimination of the material can no longer be met. Responsibility for this rests with the regime.

The functional destruction of Syria’s chemical weapon manufacturing capability and the removal of more than 90 per cent of the chemicals used in the programme are significant achievements. However, Syria’s failure to meet the deadlines for removal of the remaining chemicals is unacceptable. The UK and partners continue to press for the urgent completion of removal operations.