On 11 June, Lord Hannay chaired a UN All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting on the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons in light of the approaching deadline for the mission. Speaking on the issue were two distinguished experts, Dr John Walker, Senior Principal Research Officer, Arms Control & Disarmament Research Unit at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Richard Guthrie, Director of CBW-Events.
The speakers highlighted that, although the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was unlikely to fully complete its mission to remove Syria’s chemical weapons material and equipment by 30 June, a huge amount of progress had been made, with the OPCW having successfully removed around 92% of Syria’s chemical weapons to date.
The completion of the mission will be a significant milestone for the international community. Successfully removing these weapons from the middle of a warzone reduces the risk to civilians caught in the midst of conflict and could directly save the lives of many Syrians. Richard Guthrie reminded us that it also means that the weapons are no longer at the risk of falling into the hands of terrorists, demonstrating the OPCW mission’s direct benefit to UK national security interests.
The use of chemical weapons in Syria sparked swift and productive diplomatic cooperation in 2013 between states that hitherto had been broadly opposed on action in Syria, reinforcing the global norm against the use of chemical weapons. During the meeting it was acknowledged that the handful of states not yet party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, including Burma, Egypt and North Korea, will be reminded of the overwhelming feeling amongst the international community that use of these weapons is unacceptable and the event of their use will be responded to robustly.
The meeting was jointly hosted by the UN APPG, the Global Security and Non-Proliferation APPG and the UNA London and Southeast Region.
