Qatar Supports Fact-Finding Mission on Chemical Weapons in Syria

The Hague/Information Office/24 November 2015 - The State of Qatar has confirmed its full support to the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to continue its work in Syria, calling on all concerned parties to fully cooperate with the mission, especially the Syrian regime. This came in a speech delivered by HE Qatar's Permanent Representative to the OPCW and Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands Khalid bin Fahad Al Khater during the extraordinary session of the OPCW Executive Council to consider the reports of the fact-finding mission on the use of chemical weapons in Syria. HE praised the OPCW efforts with respect to the destruction of Syria's declared chemical weapons production and expressed Qatar's support for the Organization's role in the investigations on the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria. In spite of these efforts, doubts and concerns still do exist on the dismantling of the Syrian chemical weapons, especially the gaps and contradictions contained in the Syrian declarations as well as the continued use of chlorine gas as a weapon in Syria against innocent civilians, HE Qatar's Permanent Representative said. HE Ambassador Al Khater also said that the State of Qatar has been informed on the latest reports, dated October 29, 2015 of the OPCW fact-finding mission, which stated that chemical weapons have been used continuously and systematically during the period from March to May 2015 in the province of Idlib and in August in the town of Mare'. HE expressed Qatar's concern about the results that have been reached and its strong condemnation of the use of chemical weapons by any party and under any circumstances, which is reprehensible and contrary to the rules of international law. HE Al Khater reminded the audience of the results of previous reports of the fact-finding mission which was issued in the past year on the use of chlorine as a weapon in Syria in the villages of Talmenes, Al Tamanah and Kafr Zita from April to August 2014. He said that Syria has been given an exceptional opportunity and the organization and its member states exert all support for Syria to get rid of its chemical weapons in a specified period of time, but continued procrastination should not be transformed to the strategy of the imposition of a fait accompli. At the conclusion of the State of Qatar's speech, HE Qatar's Permanent Representative to the OPCW expressed his confidence in the UN Security Council Resolution 2235 (2015) on establishing a mechanism for joint investigation between the United Nations and the OPCW to identify the perpetrators using chemical weapons in Syria and bring them.