Mr Chairman,
I have the honour to be speaking on behalf of
Nordic-Baltic countries Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania Norway,
Sweden and my own country Denmark.
Mr. Chairman,
The re-emergence of chemical
weapons is one of the most urgent threats to international peace and security
and has to be dealt with firmly and collectively. Impunity for breaches of the
global norm against chemical weapons must not be tolerated.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the recent assassination
attempt on Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned in Russia by a military chemical
nerve agent of the “Novichok” group. Any use of chemical weapons, under any
circumstances, is a clear breach of international law and contrary to the
Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of all chemical weapons.
We reiterate our call on Russia, as a matter of urgency, to be fully
transparent and to bring those responsible to justice, bearing in mind Russia’s
commitments under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The prohibition on Chemical Weapons continues to be challenged –
deliberately, and on the assumption of absence of accountability. But
violations of the Convention must have consequences. It is exactly for this
reason that a number of essential decisions – as foreseen by the Chemical
Weapons Convention – have been taken.
The use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic led to the
establishment of the OPCW Fact Finding Mission and the Joint Investigative
Mechanism. Highly professional and competent bodies designed to deal with use
of Chemical Weapons. At the same time, it was clear that Syria had not fully
declared its Chemical Weapons Programme. To remedy this violation of the
Treaty, the OPWC established the Declarations Assessment Team.
At a special session of the conference of States Parties, it was decided
to task the OPCW Technical Secretariat to set up arrangements to identify the
perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons (CW) in the Syrian Arab Republic
(SAR). This was a direct consequence of the Russian veto of the continuation of
the JIM. Just as it was beginning to deliver results.
The Declarations Assessment Team, The Fact-Finding Mission and the
Investigation and Identification Team are instrumental in preserving the
integrity of our Chemical Weapons Convention and in upholding the global ban on
chemical weapons.
We commend the extraordinary high degree of professionalism of these
mechanisms. The quality and competence of the staff is beyond reproach. Their
tenacity and courage – working in adverse and sometimes hostile or dangerous
situations – is admirable. The impartiality and integrity above questioning. We
can only congratulate the OPCW Director-General in having assembled teams of
exceptional quality that complements his own efforts and that of the Technical
Secretariat in general.
We firmly reject attempts to discredit or bring into disrepute the OPCW
and the work of the Technical Secretariat. Such attempts against the
international community’s efforts in securing accountability and preventing use
of Chemical Weapons are deeply concerning.
To us the law is clear. The decisions to set up mechanisms in order to
investigate the facts in Syria are in full accordance with the Convention. The investigations and the assessments by the
Fact Finding Mission, by the Declarations and Assessment Team and the
Investigative and Identification Teams are well established and beyond any
reasonable doubt. We strongly condemn the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian
Arab Air Force as concluded by the first report of the OPCW Investigation and
Identification Team (IIT). The Syrian Arab Republic should return to full
compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention in accordance with the clear
and verifiable parameters as set up by the Executive Council in its decision of
9 July.
We reiterate our full confidence in the technical expertise,
objectivity, impartiality and independence of the OPCW Technical Secretariat
and its Investigation and Identification Team.
Mr. Chairman,
This concludes my
statement.