Joint Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi, together with USG for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, met on 5 November in Geneva with Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov and United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman as part of preparations for the Geneva II conference. Continue reading
Tag Archives: OPCW
Syrian Crisis: United Nations Response – Update No.15
Special Representative Lakhdar Brahimi met with Syrian President al-Assad in Damascus on 30 October as part of his ongoing tour in the Middle East to garner support for convening the Geneva II conference. On the eve of the meeting, he held consultations with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. In a media briefing at Headquarters, the Spokesperson said that Mr. Brahimi was also scheduled to meet with opposition groups as well as civil society and women’s groups while in Syria. Continue reading
Syrian Crisis: United Nations Response – Update No.13
On 11 October, the Security Council formally approved the setting up of an unprecedented OPCW-UN Joint Mission to eliminate the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic proposed by the Secretary-General and to deploy up to 100 personnel from both organizations to implement Security Council resolution 2118 (2013). Continue reading
Syrian Crisis: United Nations Response – Update No.12
6 October, the joint team of inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations began the process of eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons. Under the supervision of experts from the OPCW, supported by the UN, Syrian personnel started to destroy or disable a range of items, including missile warheads, aerial bombs Continue reading
Syria Chemical Weapons Team reports encouraging progress
The joint OPCW-UN team mandated to assist Syria with the elimination of its chemical weapons programme has made encouraging initial progress, following the first working day of meetings with the Syrian authorities. Documents handed over yesterday by the Syrian Government look promising, according to team members, but further analysis, particularly of technical diagrams, will be necessary and some more Continue reading
Syrian Crisis: United Nations Response – Update No.11
After more than two and a half years of stalemate over the situation in Syria, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2118 (2013) on 27 September, prohibiting Syria from using, developing, producing, acquiring, stockpiling or retaining chemical weapons. By its resolution, the Council endorsed the decision of the OPCW Executive Council Continue reading
Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 2118 on chemical weapons in Syria
Deeply outraged by the use of chemical weapons on 21 August in a Damascus suburb, as concluded by a United Nations investigation team, the Security Council this evening endorsed the expeditious destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons programme, with inspections to begin by 1 October, and agreed that in the event of non-compliance, it would impose “Chapter VII” measures. Continue reading
UN chemical weapons inspection team finalising processing of samples returned from Syria
Samples collected by the United Nations chemical weapons inspection team in Syria are now being transferred from The Hague to laboratories for analysis, according to a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “Since the return of the Mission last Saturday, the UN team worked around the clock to finalise the preparations of the samples in view of Continue reading
Samples collected at site of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria to be sent to labs today
Samples collected by the United Nations chemical weapons inspection team in Syria will begin to be transferred to laboratories today, according to a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The whole process will be done strictly adhering to the highest established standards of verification recognized by the Continue reading
UN chemical weapons team reaches inspection site in Syria after its convoy was hit with sniper fire
The team of United Nations inspectors probing the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria spent its first day in the suburbs of Damascus at the site of the alleged incident, interviewing witnesses, survivors and doctors, and collecting samples, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today. Continue reading