World powers agree to give chemical watchdog teeth in Syria

THE HAGUE: The international community on Wednesday voted to boost the powers of the global chemical weapons watchdog to enable it to name those behind toxic arms attacks in Syria, delegations attending the talks said.

“The #UK Decision at the @OPCW Conference of State Parties has passed with votes 82 in favour,” the British delegation, which tabled the proposal, said in a tweet, adding 24 countries were against the measure.

Following fierce opposition from Russia, Syria and Iran, other delegates said applause broke out at the special session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) following the unprecedented vote. “It’s passed! Australia proud to cosponsor with @UK_OPCW decision to attribute chemical weapons attack,” Canberra’s ambassador Brett Mason said in a tweet.

Norway, also a co-sponsor of the British-led proposal, tweeted that it had been “overwhelmingly” adopted, with its ambassador Martin Soerby praising OPCW members for taking “a decisive and necessary decision to expose the perpetrators of chemical attacks.”

According to the text, released on Twitter by the British delegation, the rare special session agreed that the OPCW’s secretariat “shall put in place arrangements to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic.”

Both Moscow, the main ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Damascus, which vehemently opposed the move, stand accused by the international community of using chemical weapons in recent months — allegations they deny.

But the international community has grown increasingly frustrated at the lack of a mechanism to punish perpetrators amid repeated recent confirmed attacks with chlorine, sarin and even mustard gas in Syria and Iraq, and the use of rare nerve agents in Britain and Malaysia.

The OPCW, set up to rid the world of chemical weapons is currently mandated to investigate and identify the use of these arms, but until now has not been able to point fingers at any guilty parties.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a video tweet “after the recent spate in the use of chemical weapons at Salisbury, Syria and elsewhere it’s great news that so many of our friends and partners have supported the UK today.”

The result of the. Johnson added, is that the OPCW “has a crucial extra power, not just to identify the use of chemical weapons but also to point the finger at the organisation, the state that they think is responsible and that is crucial if we are going to deter the use of these vile weapons.”