CSTO affirms rejection of exploiting OPCW to spread allegations on using chemical weapons in Syria

 The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) have affirmed their rejection of politicizing the work of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and using it as a platform to spread allegations of the use of these weapons in Syria

A joint statement issued by the member states of the organization said that the work of the OPCW special missions in Syria, formed in agreement with its government, must comply with the letter and spirit of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, stressing that any deviation from these requirements is never acceptable

The statement added that the use of the OPCW platform to publish unconfirmed allegations of the use of these weapons constitutes a serious problem, stressing the need to maintain the objectivity and impartiality of the Technical Secretariat in matters of rapid response to statements issued by states party to the Convention on the alleged use of chemical weapons in armed conflicts

The statement considered that the powers of the OPCW Technical Secretariat should not go beyond the scope clearly defined in the provisions of the convention, and that decisions related to harming the rights of the states which are parties to it should be based only on reliable and verifiable facts and conclusions and not on highly questionable reports issued by Investigation and Identification Team (IIT) at the Technical Secretariat  in violation of the provisions of the agreement and the powers assigned to it

The statement called on the parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to move to real cooperation through the exchange of information and consultations among them within the framework of the Convention and other existing international mechanisms in this regard