OPCW Director-General Condemns Renewed Chemical Attacks in Iraq

With evidence of further chlorine attacks that have claimed more lives and have caused the largest number of casualties since the series of chlorine bombings began in Iraq, the Director-General of the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, reiterated the statement that he made to the Security Council on 23 February 2007 that condemned such criminal acts.

In this context, Director-General Pfirter drew attention to the unanimous pronouncement made by the Forty-Eighth Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that was in session from 13 to 16 March, 2007. The Executive Council supported the Director-General’s above-mentioned statement and firmly rejected the use of toxic chemicals to inflict harm under any circumstances. It noted that the global ban on chemical weapons enjoys overwhelming international support. The Council emphasized that such abhorrent acts are contrary to the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In the view of the Council, the reports of the multiple use of chlorine gas in Iraq highlights the dangers of the use of chemicals for purposes prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention. In this regard, the Council stressed the importance of the universality of the Convention and of achieving and maintaining the high level of readiness of the OPCW, as well as of States Parties, to fully implement all relevant provisions of the Convention, and in particular Article X, with respect to timely and needed assistance and protection against the use or threat of use of chemical weapons.

The OPCW Executive Council is a representative policy-making body comprising 41 of the 182 States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention. The delegations representing the five nations that hold a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council are also represented on the OPCW Executive Council.

PR16 Rev.1 / 2007