PRESS RELEASE : Syria’s chemical weapons programme is an ongoing threat to international peace and security – UK statement at the Security Council [May 2023]
The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 9 May 2023.
Statement by Deputy Political Coordinator Tom Phipps at the UN Security Council meeting on Syria.
As always, I would like to begin by thanking High Representative Izumi Nakamitsu for her briefing.
As Ms Nakamitsu said, at next week’s Fifth Review Conference, States Parties will take stock of the Chemical Weapons Convention’s implementation and set future priorities. They will also reaffirm the importance of the Convention.
President, the Convention and wider non-proliferation can only hold if its rules are upheld and rule-breakers are held to account.
The Assad regime has repeatedly breached its obligations under the Convention and resolution 2118. There is undeniable and direct evidence of the Syrian state murdering its own civilians using chemical weapons on at least nine occasions. This Council has failed to hold the regime to account for the use of these abhorrent weapons. This failure is primarily due to the actions of one permanent member, which itself used chemical weapons in recent years, including in my country in 2018.
This is not a show, and this statement is not groundless.
The OPCW has put exceptional amounts of resource into trying to help Syria resolve the outstanding issues regarding its initial declaration. These issues are not academic and include the whereabouts of hundreds of tonnes of chemical weapons agents.
As we head again from Ms Nakamitsu, access for OPCW staff remains restricted, and despite worrying findings by the Declaration Assessment Team, Syria and Russia’s denials continue. We commend the OPCW team’s continued efforts, and underscore that the fundamental obligations that Syria has as a State Party to the convention must be upheld. It must give up all its chemical weapons, stop any banned activity and comply in full with the OPCW.
Until Syria has made meaningful progress on these issues, its chemical weapons programme is an ongoing threat to international peace and security that this Council needs to address. We must collectively send a clear message about our shared commitment to the ban on chemical weapons and we need to uphold and defend the international consensus that these weapons should never be used.
Thank you.
