Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
The Hague, SANA- The United States and its allies have worked to use the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the service of the implementation of their aggressive political agendas against Syria, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the OPCW, Ambassador Milad Attia said Wednesday.
Attia’s remarks came while delivering Syria’s statement during the opening of the 105th session of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Attia added that Damascus has been facing an unprecedented campaign of skepticism and false accusations of not cooperating with the organization and its technical secretariat, and that it hides chemical weapons, despite having cooperated with the technical secretariat of the organization and provided all the facilities.
“The Syrian experience, and then the Russian one, and before them that of José Bustani, with the organization, have become conclusive proof of how some Western countries worked to politicize the work of this organization and divert it from the objectives for which it was created,” said the diplomat.
He clarified that the manner of adoption and approval of the decision of the fourth special session of the Conference of States Parties in June 2018 and the consequent creation of an illegal group that violates the provisions of the Convention constitute a turning point in the history of this organization, despite the fact that the majority of member states demanded faithful, fair and non-discriminatory implementation of what the convention stipulates.
According to the Syrian representative, some Western countries are accustomed to imposing their dictations on other countries and refusing to listen to any opinion that contradicts their instructions or does not serve their political agendas, even if that would lead to direct aggression against the sovereignty of other countries in a manner that violates international law and the UN Charter, similar to what happened in the US-British-French aggression launched against Syria in April 2018.
“The United States and some Western countries have turned the OPCW into an arena to settle their aggressive and colonialist geopolitical scores, since the independence of this organization is at stake. We say very clearly that in the face of this reality, the organization is no longer capable of achieving its purpose and it is difficult for it to regain its credibility and carry out the tasks assigned to it,” considered the Damascus delegate.
In the same context, he added that “as a result of the political interference of Western countries, the OPCW is currently facing a crisis of credibility, disagreements, polarization and divisions within it, and these countries continue their approach by adopting politicized decisions directed against the states parties to the convention.”
Attia highlighted the need to support the request of the State of Palestine to investigate the incidents of use of chemical weapons by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, and called on the Technical Secretariat to move and carry out its tasks in accordance with its mandate, as it has been done elsewhere.
“The excuse that there is no evidence and that the security situation does not allow an investigation is unacceptable and reveals a double standard,” he said.
Finally, the Syrian delegate reiterated Syria’s call for international cooperation to confront the unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States and its allies on the transfer of scientific technology for peaceful purposes to developing countries, with the aim of preventing them from achieving economic and scientific development for its people, in clear violation of the provisions of the agreement and international law.
Manar Salameh/ Ruaa al-Jazaeri
