The Syrian Government had confirmed its readiness to engage in a twenty‑fifth round of consultations with the OPCW’s Declaration Assessment Team later in the month, she reported.
However, these plans remain subject to evolving conditions on the ground, due to the COVID‑19 pandemic. The OPCW Technical Secretariat still plans to conduct two rounds of inspections of the Barzah and Jamrayah facilities of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre. “It is only through complete cooperation by the Syrian Arab Republic with the OPCW Technical Secretariat that all outstanding issues related to the Syrian Arab Republic’s initial declaration can be closed,” she emphasized. Because of OPCW’s Technical Secretariat’s assessment regarding unresolved discrepancies and inconsistencies, the declaration submitted by Syria still cannot be considered accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, she noted. Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, briefed the 15‑member organ on her Office’s recent engagement with its counterparts at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a month after her last address to the Council on the matter. Damascus Representative Says Government Cooperating with Investigations, Claims Member States Turn ‘a Deaf Ear to the Truth’Īlmost eight years after the Security Council mandated the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, tasked with effectuating that goal, continues to face challenges, including unaddressed discrepancies and insufficient cooperation, the senior United Nations disarmament official told the Security Council today.