The Ambassador of Republic of Iraq in The Hague Gives National Statement of Iraq at Meetings of Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

The Ambassador and the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Dr. Hisham Al-Alawi, gave the national statement of the Republic of Iraq at the meetings of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, on Wednesday morning 9/10/2019.

In the statement, Ambassador Al-Alawi expressed his regret that the Fourth Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention had ended without a final report due to the lack of consensus, calling on all to deal responsibly with the issue and to identify the reasons that led to it.

Ambassador Al-Alawi stated that the Iraqi government, along with any international effort, seeks to get rid of chemical weapons and prevent their future production or reach into the hands of terrorists, and that Iraq suffered from the use of chemical weapons during the war on Da’esh terrorist gangs, which targeted civilians and security forces. Iraq today is on the threshold of an important phase of reconstruction, construction and strengthening security after defeating terrorism. As such, Iraq has supported all proposals for the addition of chemicals (non-peaceful uses) to the list of banned substances in the Annex to the Convention. In his speech, Ambassador Al-Alawi pointed to Iraq’s firm and clear position that the Organization should be kept away from any processes leading to the politicization of its work, and the need to preserve the identity of the Organization as a technical organization, calling on States that have not acceded to the Convention to accede to it as soon as possible.