Qatar condemns use of chemical arms in Syria

QNA

The Hague

The State of Qatar has reiterated its condemnation of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, calling on the international community to force the Syrian regime to implement the decisions of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and UN Security Council resolution 2118.

Qatar held the international community the responsibility to push the Syrian regime to continue its persistent in the killing and the use of these weapons in Ghouta and described putting the Syrian chemical weapons under control and then destroying them quickly as the first step in the right direction towards achieving the universality of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

This came in a speech delivered by Director of International Organisations and Conferences Department at the Foreign Ministry Ambassador Dr Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani on the occasion of holding the 18th Session of the Conference of the States Parties (CSP) to the Chemical Weapons Convention in The Hague.

He said that the international community’s failure to deal decisively and responsibly with the catastrophic situation in Syria and its continuation to overlook the serious violations and massacres committed by the Syrian regime against its own people push the Syrian regime to persist in the killing and the use of all kinds of heavy weapons, including the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta which is a flagrant violation of international law.

He called on the Security Council to review any reports of the organisation submitted under Article VIII of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which provides for the referral of cases of non-compliance to the Council and stressed the need to bring the perpetrators of crimes of the chemical weapons use to justice, considering them as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Al-Qahtani demanded the states that possess chemical weapons to continue the disposal process of such weapons.