CSTO states call to reinstate consensus, equality at OPCW — statement

MOSCOW, December 8. /TASS/. The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) urge their dialogue partners at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to return consensus and equality to this venue against the background of a threat to politicize its agenda, a joint CSTO statement said at the 26th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The document published on Wednesday on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website points out that the CSTO urges the CWC member states "to constructively cooperate with each other, aspire to restore the spirit of consensus and equality at the OPCW in the interests of the integrity and universality of the Convention." "[The CSTO member states] call on the CWC member states to move to real cooperation through the exchange of information and consultations with each other within the framework of the Convention and other existing international mechanisms in this regard to which they are parties, in particular, on the provision of legal help," the statement said. According to the document, "this approach is a necessary condition in order to achieve the universal coverage of the Convention which remains one of the fundamental treaties in the architecture of international security and disarmament." The statement noted that the CSTO member states realize "a serious problem in using the OPCW venue for the dissemination of unconfirmed allegations on the use of chemical weapons" and emphasize "the necessity to preserve the objectivity and impartiality" of the organization’s Technical Secretariat when promptly reacting to the claims of the CWC member states of the alleged use of chemical weapons in armed conflicts. "[The CSTO member states] emphasize the necessity to preserve the technical focus of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and in relation to that note the danger of politicizing its agenda, imposing a unilateral vision of the norms of international law, including a free interpretation of the Convention’s provisions without taking into account the opinions of all member states," the statement said. "[They] express confidence that the effective functioning of the OPCW in many ways depends on the professional, apolitical and independent nature of the Technical Secretariat’s work. [The CSTO member states] call to preserve and enhance its expert potential, perfect the system of knowledge transfer with the unfailing observance of wide geographic representation." At the same time, the CSTO notes that a large share of the responsibility for the Secretariat’s activities lies with the organization’s director general. "[The CSTO member states] proceed from the premise that any proposals outside the sphere of the Convention’s coverage should be implemented strictly within the framework of its Article 15. [They] urge the initiators of the draft decision on ‘understanding’ with regards to the non-use of substances affecting the central nervous system in aerosol form for law enforcement purposes to strictly follow the provisions of this international treaty," the document noted. According to the statement, "[they] note that the authority of the Technical Secretariat should not exceed the framework clearly delineated by the Convention’s provisions." The CSTO member states are also confident that the decision-making on disenfranchising the Convention member states should be based "exclusively on reliable, verifiable facts and conclusions and not on the highly questionable in this context reports of the Investigation and Identification Team with attribute functions created at the Technical Secretariat in circumvention of the Convention’s provisions." The CSTO also asserts that the work of the OPCW special missions in Syria, founded in coordination with this country’s government, should comply "with the letter and the spirit of the Convention." "A departure from these requirements is unacceptable," the document noted. Read more