UNITED NATIONS (AA) - The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned on Monday the chemical weapons use in Syria as a "war crime", saying international community has responsibility to bring the perpetrators to account for the chemical attack.
In its report to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the UN inspectors team headed by Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom said they collected "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used " in in the Ghouta area of Damascus" on Aug. 21.
The UN investigators team concluded that chemical weapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syria -- against civilians, including children, on a relatively large scale,
The UN Report went to explain that “environmental, chemical and medical samples that were collected provided such evidence that “surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used.”
"The international community has a moral responsibility to hold accountable those responsible and for ensuring that chemical weapons can never re-emerge as an instrument of warfare,” said the written statement by the Office of the UN Secretary-General issued after Report of UN Inspectors team was published on Monday morning in New York.
While transmitting the UN Report simultaneously to the Security Council and the General Assembly the UN Secretary General expressesed his “profound shock and regret at the conclusion that chemical weapons were used on a relatively large scale, resulting in numerous casualties, particularly among civilians and including many children,” a written UN statement says.
- Outcry at the UN -
Ban condemned “in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons”. He believes that “this act is a war crime and grave violation of the 1925 Protocol” which prohibits the use of such weapons.“
However, it was reaffirmed that Mr. Ban Ki-moon welcomes the agreement reached on September 14 between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and and the US Secretary of State John Kerry on a framework for the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria.
UN Secretary General expressed hope that the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations Security Council quickly move toward the fulfillment of the Syrian government obligations under the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
In the meantime UN Secretary-General stressed that “any use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances is a grave violation of international law.”
- New UNSC Resolution is a must -
At the United Nations in New York two diplomats told AA that it will be now on UN Security Council (UNSC) to reconcile two pretty different drafts of UNSC resolutions and reconcile positions of the West and Russia. France, Britain and US will push the Chapter Seven resolution, which allows use of “all necessary means”, while Russia would rather see the Chapter Six resolution, which does not include the threat of military power to Syria.
The Secretary General believes that “an effective mechanism to investigate allegations of the use of chemical weapons can serve as an important deterrent against their employment” in the future.
By Erol Avdovic
