7 March 2025
Thank you Madame President,
I thank the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Mrs. Nakamitsu, for her informative briefing and commend her for her overall work.
Furthermore, I wish to express my country’s deepest appreciation for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and its efforts to carry out its mandate impartially, professionally and in adherence to the highest international standards, with the aim to establish the facts surrounding any use of chemical weapons, including toxic chemicals, for hostile purposes in the case of the Syrian Arab Republic.
Madame President,
As a country with deep historical and political ties with Syria, Greece will support a fully inclusive Syrianled and Syrian-owned political transition, in the spirit of UN Security Council Resolution 2254.
Security and prosperity in Syria, as well as its adherence to international law, including UNCLOS, are of key importance for regional stability in the whole Middle East. Therefore, we strongly support the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
We call on the Council to make use of the momentum created, in order to push for a substantial progress on the file of chemical weapons in Syria, for the first time since many years.
As an issue of priority, we could not stress more the importance of securing the chemical weaponsrelated locations and materials therein, during the transition period.
Madame President,
I would like to highlight three areas of importance for my country:
Firstly, we welcome the recent visit of the Director General of OPCW to Syria, as a crucial first step for the re-establishment of mutual trust and cooperation between the Organization and the de facto authorities of Syria. We also welcome the recent visit of the Syrian caretaker Foreign Minister Mr. alShaibani to the OPCW as well as his commitment to work for the elimination of the remaining Chemical Weapons in his country.
We encourage Syria to engage constructively and in good faith, with OPCW’s Technical Secretariat, in order to close the 19 outstanding issues and thus to confirm that it has abandoned the use of chemical weapons and has concluded the total destruction of its stockpiles.
These are sine qua non conditions in order for Syria to regain its rights and privileges as a State party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, without further delay.
Secondly, the latest monthly reports of the Director General of OPCW, attest a slow progress towards the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons programme.
Among others, it is highlighted that due to the continuously evolving situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, no monthly report was received recently regarding activities on its territory related to the destruction of its chemical weapons.
Thirdly, Greece condemns in the strongest possible terms any use of chemical weapons, by any State or non-State actors, anywhere, in any circumstances, and stresses the need to hold all those who would use such weapons accountable.
In this vein, we support that the OPCW’s Fact Finding Mission should continue to study all available information relating to repeated allegations of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, as an effective means towards the establishment of accountability by the competent teams of OPCW.
Madame President,
To conclude, Greece calls for the unity of the Council into upholding Resolution 2118 (2013) and the international norm against any use of chemical weapons.
I thank you