New York - Damascus: Europe and the Arabs
The Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Adideji Ebo, said that the efforts of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to hold the twenty-fifth round of consultations between the assessment team and the Syrian authorities have not yet made any progress. According to the United Nations news bulletin, a copy of which we received on Wednesday morning
The Deputy High Representative for Disarmament Affairs made the remarks during his briefing on Tuesday to the UN Security Council on the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2118 (2013).
Ibo said the technical secretariat proposed in May 2022 to address issues related to the declaration through an exchange of correspondence. Although Syria agreed to this proposal, the Technical Secretariat has not yet received any declarations or other documents requested from Syria.
He explained that given this situation, and in an effort to carry out its mandate, the Technical Secretariat had proposed to send smaller teams consisting of a group of assessment team members to Syria to carry out limited activities. The first transmission took place between 17-22 January 2023, while the second transmission took place between 12-19 April.
The UN official said that the results of the two operations were communicated to the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in March and then in July 2023.
Full cooperation was not achieved
Ibo stressed that Syria's full cooperation with the Technical Secretariat is important to close all outstanding issues.
He added that the declaration submitted by Syria cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, given the identified gaps and inconsistencies that remain unresolved.
The UN official stated that the technical secretariat continues to plan for the next round of inspections, scheduled for 2023, with regard to the Barzeh and Jamaraya facilities of the Center for Scientific Studies and Research.
Ibo expressed his regret that Syria had not yet provided sufficient technical information or explanations that would enable the Technical Secretariat to close the case related to the detection of a Schedule 2 chemical in the Barzeh facilities in November 2018.
He added that the Technical Secretariat had not yet received a response to its request for information regarding the unauthorized movement and remnants of two destroyed cylinders related to a chemical weapon incident that occurred in Douma on April 7, 2018.
The risk of lack of accountability
Ibo said: "I call on Syria to respond quickly to the requests of the technical secretariat of the organization."
The UN official stated that the fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons continues to examine all information related to allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Ibbo reiterated the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on more than one occasion that "the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable."
He stressed that the absence of accountability for the use of these weapons is a threat to international peace and security and "poses a danger to all of us."

Ibo called on the Security Council to unite on this issue and show leadership in zero tolerance with impunity in cases of chemical weapons use.