Photograph by Bixentro
The UN Security Council has unanimously voted to adopt a binding resolution to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles previously agreed by Russia and the US.
This vote is the first agreement from the Security Council that has remained dead-locked for the previous 30 months of the Syrian conflict, where the US and Russia had been unable to to find common ground.
UN Security general Ban Ki-moon called the vote “historic”, saying
“Tonight the international community has delivered.”
The text of the resolution condemns the use of chemical weapons but does not apportion blame and demands that Syria abandons its chemical weapons stockpiles and gives UN weapons inspectors unfettered access to their facilities. If Syria does not comply with the demands, a second resolution would be required before the implementation of further sanctions or other “coercive measures”, such as military action, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have hailed the importance of diplomacy in ridding Syria of the “worst weapons of war”, with Lavrov stressing that the success of the plan would depend both on the Assad regime and the rebels.
Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Jaafari welcomed the resolution but stressed that countries supporting the rebels should also abide by the provisions.
The Organisation for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) earlier agreed on an accelerated programme for eliminating Syria chemical weapons stockpile, which would be completed by mid-2014 if inspections begin from the start of October. OPCW director general Ahmet Üzümcü called the agreement on this implementation “historic”, with “ambitious milestones” for the destruction being set by 15th November.
As the international community focuses on removing chemical weapons from the Syrian conflict, the horrors of was continue to affect those in the country where 100,000 people have now been killed in the conflict, with five million people displaced, including two million refugees.
These issues were not forgotten by Ban Ki-moon who said:
“As we mark this important step, we must never forget that the catalogue of horrors in Syria continues with bombs and tanks, grenades and guns…A red light for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others. This is not a license to kill with conventional weapons. All the violence must end. All the guns must fall silent”
