16 September,  2013
Press Release N°: 233/13

The Argentine Foreign Ministry has closely followed the dramatic situation in Syria from the beginning. A positive event that should be highlighted is Syria’s recent incorporation to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. We hope that this country proceeds for a swift and truthful fulfillment of the Convention. We also hope that the incorporation of Syria to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is followed by other countries in the region that still have not done so, in order to move forward to a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

Our country reiterates, in the strongest possible terms, that the use of chemical weapons in Syria, banned by the international community, compels all States to find a solution to the crisis. Nobody should harbor any doubts that either governments or insurgent armed groups that might have used such weapons should be prosecuted and punished, particularly by the International Criminal Court. Also, we reject the attempts to utilize the tragedy of the Syrian people for the promotion of the strategic interests of the world’s military powers and the countries in the region.

The Argentine Government welcomes the results of the negotiations between Russia and the United States that made possible the incorporation of Syria to the OPCW. The Argentine Government favors that these negotiations are brought to the Security Council in order to define mechanisms, terms and objectives, in order to ensure that Syria fulfill its international obligations.

Argentina considers that this first promising step in the Syrian crisis reaffirms the urgent need to call to the Geneva Conference on Syria (Geneva II). The progress made in the question of the chemical weapons could be the basis for comprehensive and negotiated solution to the crisis, reached by the Syrian people and with the support of the international community through the organs of the United Nations.

Our country considers that a sustainable peace should be framed within the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, and should not depend on the good will and understanding of two countries. It is imperative that the organs of the United Nations created by the international community in order to address questions related to international security resume their leading role in the Syrian crisis.

Within this framework, Argentina calls once more to the parts in conflict to dialogue and to cooperate with the mechanisms of the United Nations in order to reach a pacific solution to the crisis. Also, Argentina repeats that the horror provoked by the use of chemical weapons, which is in itself a war crime and a crime against humanity, should not conceal the fact that 99,9 percent of the victims have died under the use of conventional weapons. As we have been insisting since January of this year, it is imperative that the Security Council bans the provision of conventional weapons to the parties in conflict.

As a member of the Security Council, the Argentine Permanent Representative, Ambassador María Cristina Perceval, will work for the strict compliance with international law, for the no proliferation and elimination of weapons of mass destruction, for the fight against impunity and the respect of human rights, multilateralism and the consolidation of a path towards a political solution to all the dimensions of the Syrian conflict.

As always, Argentina will actively work for peace.