The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons prepares to take action against Syria
On Tuesday, members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) discussed, a proposal to strip Syria of its rights in The Hague-based organization, in response to findings from a report alleging government forces have repeatedly used toxic gases.
Reuters saw a copy of a draft document distributed to representatives of the 193 member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Forty-six countries submitted the document, including the United States, Britain and France.
Syria has repeatedly denied using any chemical weapons in the decade-long conflict that has transformed the organization, whose mandate was once purely technical, into a cause of discord between competing political forces and a split in the Security Council.
The draft decision should have the support of a two-thirds majority of the members present who will vote on it at a meeting of the Conference of States Parties this week.
The resolution proposes to abolish the voting rights of Syria and prohibit the presence of any Damascus offices within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The draft, which may be put to a vote soon, perhaps on Wednesday, says that the current use “confirms that the Syrian Arab Republic has failed to declare and destroy all of its chemical weapons,” after it joined in 2013 the treaty banning those weapons signed in 1997.
Luis Charbonneau, director of UN affairs at Human Rights Watch, said he hoped the move would encourage states to prosecute individuals criminally responsible for these incidents.
“While this step will be largely symbolic, it is necessary to remind the world of the scope and seriousness of war crimes committed by the Syrian government forces,” he said.
He added, “It is an important step towards holding the Syrian leadership accountable for war crimes and addressing the biggest crisis of compliance with the rules faced by states party to the Chemical Weapons Treaty ever.
