At the outset, it is my pleasure to extend my thanks to the Chairperson, the Director-General of the OPCW, his assistants, OPCW staff and the Fact-Finding Mission team for their great efforts.

 

The delegation of my country reviewed the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission three reports issued by the end of October 2015. The delegation appreciates the great efforts being undertaken by the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) in exceptional working conditions. In this connection, the delegation of my country expresses its deep concern about the findings of the FFM team confirming the use of chemical weapons, which raises an important question as to the source of these chemical weapons and their users.

 

Since 2013, meetings have been regularly held at OPCW about the Syrian chemical weapons programme while the work of the FFM regarding the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic is ongoing.

 

Despite all that and the relevant international resolutions, the use of these weapons continues to date in a blatant violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

 

The repeated and systematic use of these prohibited weapons raises a serious question as to the accuracy of the data contained in the Syrian declarations related to the Syrian chemical programme. In this regard, the Syrian regime is fully responsible for resolving ambiguities and ensuring that its declarations are correct and complete. To date, it has not been fully confirmed that no weapons remain in the hands of the Syrian regime. Therefore, we encourage the Technical Secretariat and the FFM team to continue their efforts in order to obtain the required information about the Syrian chemical programme and ensure that they are correct.

 

The delegation of my country welcomes once again the United Nations Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) establishing an OPCW-United Nations joint mechanism to investigate the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic. We call for a firm action against the perpetrators of crimes involving the use of these chemical weapons with a view to bringing them before the international justice.

 

We also welcome the draft decision under consideration, submitted by the United States of America and the Russian Federation hoping for its adoption by consensus.

 

Thank you for your attention.