Action on Syria ethical commitment: OPCW
THE HAGUE: The head of the global chemical weapons watchdog defended on Thursday the removal of Syria’s voting rights, saying it showed the body’s “ethical commitment” to eliminate toxic armaments.
Damascus and its ally Moscow both slammed Wednesday’s vote by a majority of countries at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons ( OPCW) to punish Syria.
Russia and Syria said the decision, taken ater an investigation found Syria had carried out three sarin and chlorine atacks in 2017, showed the Hague-based regulator was becoming politicised by the West.
But OPCW chief Fernando Arias said this week’s conference of member states had “reaffirmed that the use of chemical weapons is the most serious breach of the (Chemical Weapons) Convention there can be, as people’s lives are taken or destroyed.
“By deciding to address the possession and use of chemical weapons by a state party, the conference has reiterated the international community’s ethical commitment to uphold the norm against these weapons.” Separately, the United Nations (UN) human rights experts urged Switzerland on Thursday to repatriate two Geneva sisters from a squalid camp in north-eastern Syria five years ater the girls were allegedly abducted by their mother who joined the Daesh militant group.
“The two fathers of the girls, who both live in Geneva, have asked the Swiss government to take the necessary steps to repatriate their daughters, who were ostensibly taken by their mother on a vacation in August 2016 but ended up in Syria,” the UN experts said in a statement.
“The repatriation of these two children should not be further delayed,” they said, adding that the half-sisters were believed to be held at Al Roj.
The 14-year-old has anaemia and is believed to have suffered a severe shrapnel wound to her leg, requiring three operations, while the eight-year-old was thought to be in poor health.
The Swiss foreign ministry reaffirmed its 2019 policy on “travellers motivated by terrorism.” “Repatriation can only be considered for minors,” it said, adding that it was seeking solutions with authorities in Switzerland and abroad. “However, these efforts have not yet been successful, as the mothers refuse to let the children be repatriated without them, the Kurdish authorities do not authorise the separation of mother and children, unless the mother agrees or for humanitarian reasons.”