UN / SYRIA

07-Nov-2022 00:02:30
The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, told the Security Council that “as has been stressed on a monthly basis for many years now,” the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Technical Secretariat “cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.” UNIFEED
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STORY: UN / SYRIA
TRT: 02:30
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 07 NOVEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
SHOTLIST
FILE - NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, UN Headquarters

07 NOVEMBER 2022, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Med shot, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu at the dais
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs:
“Full cooperation by the Syrian Arab Republic with the OPCW Technical Secretariat is essential to closing all outstanding issues. As has been stressed on a monthly basis for many years now, due to the identified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain unresolved, the Technical Secretariat continues to assess that, at this stage, the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
5. Wide shot, Council
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs:
“Unfortunately, all efforts by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to organise the twenty-fifth round of consultations between the DAT and the Syrian National Authority continue to be unsuccessful.”
7. Wide shot, Council
8. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Polyanskiy, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Within the reporting cycle mandated by the Council, there are no topics which are considered this frequently. Given the fact that on the Syria chemical weapons dossier there is no development on the ground at all, this is just clearly absurd. Colleagues, the recent report of the Director General, of the OPCW differs from the previous one by two sentences. What is the point of convening a special meeting and Security Council for that? It seems that we are holding a meeting today just for the sake of holding a meeting.”
9. Wide shot, Security Council
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard M. Mills, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“As long as the discrepancies on Syria's chemical weapons statement remain, this monthly meeting remains necessary and fully appropriate.”
11. Med shot, Nakamitsu at the dais
12. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bassam Sabbagh, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Syrian Arab Republic:
“Western countries frantically insist that the Council hold this debate only to repeat the same accusatory narratives against Syria. This is irresponsible, unacceptable and incompatible with their obligations under the United Nations Charter, namely the obligation to maintain international peace and security.”
13. Wide shot, Security Council
STORYLINE
The High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, today (7 Nov) told the Security Council that “as has been stressed on a monthly basis for many years now,” the declaration submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Technical Secretariat “cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

Nakamitsu, stressed that “full cooperation” by the Syrian Arab Republic with the OPCW continues to be “essential to closing all outstanding issues.”

She said, “unfortunately,” all efforts by the OPCW Technical Secretariat to organise the twenty-fifth round of consultations between the OPCW Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) and the Syrian National Authority “continue to be unsuccessful.”

Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy noted that “within the reporting cycle mandated by the Council, there are no topics which are considered this frequently.”

Polyanskiy said, “given the fact that on the Syria chemical weapons dossier there is no development on the ground at all, this is just clearly absurd,” and pointed out that the recent report of the Director General, of the OPCW “differs from the previous one by two sentences.”

He said, “what is the point of convening a special meeting and Security Council for that? It seems that we are holding a meeting today just for the sake of holding a meeting.”

United States Ambassador Richard M. Mills, for his part said, “as long as the discrepancies on Syria's chemical weapons statement remain, this monthly meeting remains necessary and fully appropriate.”

Syrian Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh states that “Western countries frantically insist that the Council hold this debate only to repeat the same accusatory narratives against Syria. This is irresponsible, unacceptable and incompatible with their obligations under the United Nations Charter, namely the obligation to maintain international peace and security.”

The OPCW has been actively involved in Syria since its accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 2013.

The OPCW-UN Joint Mission was formally established on 16 October 2013 to oversee the timely elimination of the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic in the safest and most secure manner possible.

The OPCW Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) was set up in 2014 to establish facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals, reportedly chlorine, for hostile purposes in the Syrian Arab Republic.

The Declaration Assessment Team (DAT) was established 2014 to engage the relevant Syrian authorities to resolve the identified gaps and inconsistencies in the Syrian declaration.

The OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) was established by the UN Security Council to identify the perpetrators of the chemical weapon attacks confirmed by the Fact-Finding Mission. The JIM presented its reports to the Security Council and informed the OPCW. The JIM’s mandate expired in November 2017.
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