It is eleven years this month since Syria ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, and since this Council unanimously agreed resolution 2118, calling on Syria to immediately cease its production, storage and use of chemical weapons.
In 2013, Bashar Assad's forces used sarin against the people of Ghouta, killing over 1400 people. In 2018, a chemical weapon attack in Douma killed 43 men, women and children and affected dozens more.
Yet the Syria chemical weapon issue has still not been confined to history. The Syrian authorities have failed to account for thousands of munitions and hundreds of tonnes of chemical agent, despite the diligent efforts of the OPCW and its Declaration Assessment Team.
We have had 150 technical meetings yet outstanding issues still remain with Syria's declaration. Nineteen outstanding issues remain unresolved regarding the Syrian declaration to the Chemical Weapons Convention.
And two were added in July 2024, opened - set out in the OPCW Director General's report to the Council - because of Syria's failure to sufficiently explain traces of undeclared chemical warfare agents or their indicators in samples previously collected by the Declaration Assessments Team.
This suggests potentially undeclared full-scale development and production of chemical weapons at two formally declared chemical weapons sites. This is deeply concerning.
Colleagues, Syria's ongoing non-compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention has grave implications for both regional and international security.
Since Bashir Assad first used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians in 2013, chemical weapons have been used again and again. In Iraq, Malaysia, in my own country, the UK, and now in Ukraine.
All of us have a responsibility to hold up the global taboo against the use of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons use cannot become normalised. I urge Syria to comply with the OPCW and its Declaration Assessment Team.
And I urge all members of this Council to make clear their opposition to the use of chemical weapons anywhere, and to support the efforts of the OPCW. The UK applauds the continued diligent efforts by the OPCW under DG Ambassador Fernando Arias' leadership.
We will continue to work tirelessly to support the OPCW and to uphold the Chemical Weapons Convention, and to one day finally achieve the total elimination of chemical weapons.
