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7922nd Security Council Meeting: Situation in Middle East; Syria
Representative Rejects ‘Sly Political Language’ against Damascus Government
The Security Council today rejected a draft resolution that would have condemned the reported chemical weapons attack on the Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun and expressed its determination to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Defeated by 10 votes in favour, to 2 against (Bolivia, Russian Federation), with 3 abstentions (China, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan), the draft would have emphasized Syria’s obligation to comply with the recommendations of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon’s (OPCW) Fact Finding Mission and the OPCW-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism by providing immediate and unfettered access to and the right to inspect any and all sites.
Tabled by France, the United Kingdom and the United States, it would have requested the Secretary-General to report on the issue every 30 days pursuant to resolution 2118 (2013), in which the Council had decided that, among other things, Syria would not use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons.
Before the action, the Russian Federation’s delegate, saying the draft failed to serve a useful purpose, requested that an independent investigation be launched immediately on the incident in Khan Shaykhun.
Following the vote, speakers agreed on the need for a swift, impartial investigation and for perpetrators to be held accountable for the reported chemical attacks. Ethiopia’s speaker expressed regret over the disunity in the Council, emphasizing that Council members had agreed on the thrust of the text.
Many speakers echoed that regret. The Council’s inability to act had sent a message that perpetrators could “get away with murder”, said Ukraine’s delegate. “Today, I feel ashamed. This vote was a credibility test for the Council and we have not passed it.”
The representative of the United States, whose country holds the Council presidency for April, said in her national capacity that the text had included information that was obvious: that Bashar al-Assad’s regime must provide access to sites. If the Assad regime was innocent, the information in the text would have vindicated it. Having voted for the eighth time against a resolution on Syria, the Russian Federation was further isolating itself.
Speakers also agreed that only a political solution could end the Syrian conflict.
Syria’s representative rejected any use of chemical weapons and all weapons of mass destruction, emphasizing that his country wanted to learn the truth more than anyone else. In its cooperation with the OPCW, Syria had requested that investigations be launched in Khan Shaykhun and the Shayrat air base.
He rejected the draft resolution because it contained sly political language that had wanted the investigation to accuse in advance the Government of Syria. Whoever read the text would understand that truth was not its true goal. Facts had been doctored and evidence fabricated against the Syrian Government, which, for its part, had sent 90 letters to OPCW about terrorist groups’ involvement with chemical weapons and other arms. He called on Council members to be rational and to obtain clear responses with regard to the Khan Shaykhun incident.
Also speaking today were representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, China, Sweden, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Senegal and Uruguay.
The meeting began at 3:15 p.m. and ended at 4:32 p.m.
