YouSaid · the spoken record

Bassam Sabbagh

lines on the record: 156
first: 2021-02-25
most recent: 2021-10-19
sittings or episodes: 13
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“In addition, it relied on open source information, most of which has no connection with the subject of the investigation, and I note too the many contradictions in the testimonies of the alleged witnesses. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirms that it has never used chemical weapons and renews its condemnation of the use of chemical weapons by anyone, at any time and place, and under any circumstances. My delegation thanks the delegations of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China for their initiative to organize an informal meeting of the Security Council on protecting developing countries from political pressure and upholding the integrity of the non-proliferation regime.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“It is a clear indication that this team is serving its operators to help them mobilize the largest number of countries to pass the Franco-Western decision. The Syrian Arab Republic rejects — in form and substance — what was contained in the team’s report about the alleged Saraqib incident, and denounces the accusations included therein. The report continued the same misleading approach by claiming that the team adhered to the procedures in place for the OPCW. Nevertheless, the team did not visit the location of the alleged incident and did not collect evidence and samples but received them from representatives of the White Helmets terrorist group.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“This political decision par excellence will not serve the goal of achieving the universality of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and it will have serious repercussions on the future work of the OPCW and the cooperation of its States parties with the organization; it represents a rather bad example of the organization’s dealings with the States party to it and its submission to the influence of some Western countries that perceive it as a tool to serve their foreign policy aims. It was not a coincidence that the illegal so-called “Investigation and Identification Team” issued a second misleading report on an alleged incident in the city of Saraqib only a few days before the convening of the Conference of the States Parties.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“In that regard, the Syrian Arab Republic expresses its thanks and appreciation to the countries that have chosen to take the right stance and not vote in favour of this politicized Western decision and to reject all methods of pressure and blackmail imposed on them out of concern for the future of collective work and in order to preserve peace and security in the world. This illegal decision falls within the framework of an aggressive scheme against Syria. That is why its main sponsors intended to ignore Syria’s full cooperation with the organization and accuse it of a baseless accusation of “failing to comply with the Convention”. But have those sponsors thought about the status of Syrian cooperation with the organization in the future? Or is it merely to justify their aggressive agendas?”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“Furthermore, the FFM relied entirely on open sources that spread misinformation from anti-Syrian intelligence services or on misleading information provided by terrorist organizations such as the White Helmets. Voting on the decision of France and the Western States at the Conference of the States Parties instead of adopting it by consensus is inconsistent with the decision-making mechanisms in place since the start of the organization’s work in 1997. The voting result — only 45 per cent of the total number of States parties to the CWC voted in favour — affirms beyond a reasonable doubt that this decision is not accepted or supported by the majority of the organization’s States parties. That makes it an illegal and unconventional decision.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“In fact, the Team represents an illegal mechanism established by manipulating the provisions of the Convention and based on an unprofessional report of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), which investigated alleged incidents in Syria in a manner inconsistent with its terms of reference and without complying with the basic principles stipulated in the CWC by completely ignoring the working methods and methodologies contained in its annex on implementation and verification, which stresses that the Technical Secretariat teams should visit the site of alleged incidents and that their experts should collect samples and maintain the chain of custody.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“That action constitutes sets a precedent in the history of this Organization of suspending the rights of a Member State that joined it voluntarily and cooperated with its Technical Secretariat in a transparent, effective and constructive manner over the past eight years. Logic entails that false hypotheses inevitably lead to wrong conclusions. Consequently, this wrong decision is the embodiment of a flawed report full of misleading and fabricated conclusions of the so-called “Investigation and Identification Team” related to the alleged incidents in Ltamenah in 2017.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“At the outset, I congratulate you and your friendly country on presiding over the work of the Security Council for this month, and I express our deep appreciation for the positions of the People’s Republic of China, which are based on the principles of international law and the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) witnessed a dangerous development in its course of work at the end of last month as the second part of the twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) adopted a hostile decision against my country, Syria, as a result of pressure and blackmail by the United States, France, Britain and Germany.”
2021-05-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/446 (2021) · source
“My delegation also stresses once again that the success of the work of the Constitutional Committee requires respecting the rules of its procedures that have been agreed upon, while rejecting any external interference in it or attempts to impose dictates about its work conclusions or artificial timetables.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“We are following the efforts made by Special Envoy Pedersen to organize the work of the sixth round of the Constitutional Committee, including the consultations that he conducted following his meetings in Damascus with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates and with the co-Chair of the national delegation to the meetings of the Constitutional Committee. We will duly inform you of the results of the consultations that will take place in the coming days. In this regard, my delegation reaffirms Syria’s commitment to a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process facilitated by the United Nations, as represented by its Special Envoy, in full respect of the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“What the statements of some countries included today is clear evidence of this confusion or, rather, the misinformation that they practice, which represents a flagrant violation of the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Member States. Those countries must abide by their commitment to respect the Charter of the United Nations, stop infringing upon Syrians’ right to choose their President freely, responsibly and democratically and stop issuing provocative and hostile statements that do not serve the goal of restoring security and stability in Syria.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“These presidential elections are an important constitutional and sovereign entitlement for the Syrian State that is consistent with its mission to ensure that its institutions carry out their constitutional duties and to move forward towards completing other duties, including liberating our land from the remnants of terrorist organizations, ending the illegal foreign military presence there, restoring security and stability to its citizens and rehabilitating its infrastructure destroyed by terrorism. Some have been launching campaigns to disrupt this electoral process by mixing fulfilling this constitutional requirement with some of the provisions of resolution 2254 (2015).”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“The list of applicants included 51 persons, among them seven women, competing to secure the necessary endorsement of members of Parliament. The holding of these elections within the constitutional time frame is based on the Syrian State’s keenness to ensure the regularity of the work of its institutions and the determination to thwart external plots aimed at creating an institutional and constitutional vacuum and imposing what has been called “creative chaos” as an alternative, similar to what we have seen in other countries.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“It is unacceptable that the Security Council continues to remain silent about these practices and ignores them. Rather, it should exert the necessary political pressure to find a sustainable solution to them. The hand extended by Syria in support of efforts towards humanitarian access is matched by the blind intransigence of some countries to adhere to the cross- border access mechanism, which is clear evidence of their hidden political agendas by exploiting and employing them for this purely humanitarian issue to serve their anti-Syrian goals. According to the Constitution of the Syrian Arab Republic, millions of Syrians inside and outside the country will go to the polls next month to cast their votes in the presidential elections, for which the application period ended today.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“The clearest example of this is their failure to allow a joint convoy to reach the city of Atarib, in north-west Syria, for which the Syrian Government had granted the United Nations approval since April of last year. What is worse is preventing the Syrian Arab Red Crescent from operating in that area and replacing it with the Turkish Red Crescent, which does not have any legal jurisdiction to operate on Syrian territory. Even worse is the Turkish regime’s use of drinking water as a weapon against civilians. This regime deliberately — 23 times — cut off drinking water coming from the Allouk station to the city of Al-Hasakah and its vicinity, for a period of 20 days, causing more than 1 million Syrians to suffer thirst and water deprivation.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“Syria reaffirms its commitment to working according to the cross-line assistance mechanism and strengthening it in a manner that takes into account what was indicated in the report of the Secretary-General on repeated access for shipments of the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization to north-east Syria through that mechanism, as well as the decrease in, or stopping of, field visits and the movement of humanitarian aid convoys and mobile clinics across the lines and as a result of the unavailability of fuel caused by unlawful coercive measures. These are facts that some countries ignore and deliberately attempt to obscure. One of the main challenges facing humanitarian access is the obstructive role of the Turkish occupation forces and their affiliated terrorist organizations.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“Syria has continued its constructive engagement with United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners to improve the humanitarian situation and deliver aid to those who deserve it. Two days ago, my Government sent two identical letters to the Secretary-General and to the President of the Security Council containing its detailed observations on the contents of the seventy-second report (S/2021/390) of the Secretary-General on humanitarian affairs. In this regard, my delegation renews its position rejecting the cross-border assistance mechanism, due to its violation of Syrian sovereignty and the grave defects that I explained in my previous statement.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“The answer to this is found first in the failure of many donors to fulfil their declared pledges; secondly, in the allocation of the largest amount of aid to neighbouring countries and regions outside the control of the Syrian Government; thirdly, in the spending of the bulk of the remaining funding on a United Nations office in Ghazi Aintab, which has no function other than distracting attention from the crimes of terrorist organizations and wasting time and money for purposes that do not conform to the goals of humanitarian work; and finally, in the deliberate disregard of the disastrous effects of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people and the accompanying plunder by the American forces that occupy the north-east of my country of Syrian wealth, foremost among that being oil and agricultural crops, and depriving the Syrian people of benefiting from it, which blatantly violates Security Council resolutions.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“It is regrettable that the United Nations co-chairs an event that perpetuates the politicization of humanitarian work, links it to conditions that altogether contradict its principles and ignores the real reasons behind the increasing human suffering. How does the holding of nine donor conferences align with the continued talk of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) about the deterioration of the living situation, the decline in food security indicators, the increasing numbers of people in need of humanitarian aid and the suffering of the displaced and refugees?”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“While those countries continue to escalate their hostile campaigns against my country, some European capitals recently witnessed many acts of manipulation of the pillars of international law, as we recently witnessed a show that took place in The Hague to exploit the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention to adopt a hostile and dangerous decision against Syria. Before that, we saw another show staged in Brussels, that is, the holding of the fifth meeting of the so-called “Brussels Conference”. That event was held under the unacceptable exclusion of the Syrian Government, which represents the Syrian people and is vested with the authority to work with the United Nations and other international partners in order to meet its humanitarian and developmental needs.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“I thank you for your initiative in organizing this meeting to jointly discuss the political and humanitarian issues related to Syria, which serves the goal of the Security Council properly using its time and resources. During the past years, Western countries have burdened the Council by holding one meeting after the other on Syria. Those meetings did not aim to address the important issues related to Syria — such as combating terrorism on its territories, ending the illegal foreign military presence there, lifting the unilateral coercive measures imposed on its citizens, or facilitating the reconstruction and rebuilding of what has been destroyed by terrorism — but rather they aimed at waging hostile campaigns, making unfounded accusations and delivering provocative statements filled with dictates and conditionalities.”
2021-04-28 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/418 (2021) · source
“Any decisions, measures or deals that are inconsistent with the relevant United Nations resolutions or fail to safeguard the established rights of the Palestinians are not remotely viable and should be rejected in form and substance. My country insists once again that Palestine must be allowed to become a full- fledged Member of the United Nations.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Syria also calls on the international community to pressure Israel, the occupying Power, to immediately and without delay reopen the Al-Quneitra crossing, which is the artery that connects our people in the occupied Syrian Golan to their motherland and the lung through which they breathe. In conclusion, the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, the establishment of an independent State over all of its national territory, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of refugees to return to their homes in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III).”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates that the Golan is an integral part of Syrian territory and that it will work to recover it by all means guaranteed by international law and practice, because its right to do so is eternal and cannot be extinguished by the passage of time. The Syrian Arab Republic calls on the Security Council to act urgently to implement resolution 497 (1981) and compel Israel to cease its illegal settlement policies and oppressive measures against our people in the occupied Syrian Golan and to withdraw from the entire occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, in particular resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 497 (1981) and 2334 (2016).”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“It is regrettable that the reports of the Secretariat continue to ignore the dangerous reality, the systematic Israeli practices and violations against our people under occupation, and the grave potential implications of that neglect for international peace and security. We therefore renew our call on Tor Wennesland, United Nations Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, to carry out his mandate in an impartial, professional and transparent manner, to give the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan the necessary attention, and to prioritize in his mandate and efforts the issue of the violations and practices perpetrated by the occupying Israeli authorities.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“I also recall Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/46/L.30, in which the Human Rights Council reaffirms that the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal and calls upon Israel to end its occupation of the territories occupied since 1967, to reverse the settlement policy in the occupied territories and to stop immediately the construction and expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and the occupied Syrian Golan. In the resolution, the Human Rights Council urges States and international organizations to ensure that they are not taking any actions that amount to a recognition of all the Israeli entity’s illegal practices and measures in the occupied Arab territories and to refrain from providing any assistance for purposes related to Israeli settlements.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The Human Rights Council emphasizes that the displaced persons of the population of the occupied Syrian Golan must be allowed to return to their homes and to recover their property; deplores the approval given by the occupying authorities to commence construction works on a wind turbine project on agricultural land owned by Syrian citizens; and demands that Israel stop immediately all action on the project and all attempts to create facts on the ground and thereby to prolong the occupation.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“In view of the foregoing, I would like to recall resolution A/HRC/46/L.16, recently adopted by the Human Rights Council, in which the Council once again condemns the violations of the rights of the people of the occupied Syrian Golan by the occupying Israeli entity and demands that it desist, comply with the relevant United Nations resolutions and stop its repressive practices. In the resolution, the Human Rights Council also condemns the implementation of the colonial annexation and settlement policies pursued by the occupying Israeli entity and demands that it stop its attempts to change the legal status and the demographic and physical character of the occupied Golan, which attempts are in violation of Security Council resolution 497 (1981).”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Fourthly, since 27 August 2014, the Israeli occupying authorities have closed the Al-Quneitra crossing, the only authorized crossing point through which the people of the occupied Syrian Golan are able to remain in contact with their motherland. Fifthly, the occupying Israeli authorities continue to plant, renovate and develop minefields in the occupied Syrian Golan, maiming and killing mostly children in the Golan. They also continue to bury nuclear waste in a number of sites in the Syrian Golan, in grave violation of international law and the relevant international agreements, posing an imminent environmental threat to the region and its inhabitants.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Thirdly, since 1967, the Israeli occupation authorities have prevented all fact- finding missions established by the United Nations, including those established under resolutions of the World Health Assembly, from gaining access to the occupied Syrian Golan to investigate conditions and make recommendations. Israel also prevents the World Health Organization from gaining unconditional access to the people of the occupied Golan to assess their situation and attend to their humanitarian needs, particularly during the coronavirus disease pandemic, in total disregard of its obligations under international humanitarian law as an occupying Power, and of the relevant United Nations resolutions, including the resolutions of the World Health Assembly.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Secondly, the Israeli occupation authorities continue to perpetrate racial discrimination; arbitrarily detain more than two thirds of the population of the occupied Syrian Golan; abduct, torture and displace the population; effect demographic change; attempt to impose Israeli citizenship and educational curricula; steal the Golan’s natural resources by continuously prospecting for underground wealth; plunder Syrian archaeological heritage; and falsify and vandalize historical and archaeological sites and monuments in order to erase and Judaize the Syrian Arab identity of the Golan.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has persistently exposed the countless illegal Israeli policies and practices. Today, I would like to recall some of these brutal practices, which have had catastrophic repercussions on various aspects of the lives of our people under Israeli occupation in the Syrian Golan: First, the Israeli occupation authorities are escalating their expansionist policies in the occupied Syrian Golan by increasing and accelerating settlement activity on the ruins of Syrian villages and territories destroyed and seized by the Israeli occupation; acquiring the territory of Syrian Arab citizens; approving tourism and settlement projects; and beginning construction of a project to erect enormous wind turbines over an area equivalent to one-fifth of the remaining agricultural land owned by the people of the Golan — the last green lung in the occupied Syrian villages — in addition to displacing the population from their homes and land.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The Security Council’s failure to fulfil its responsibility as the United States continues to sponsor Israel has encouraged the Israeli occupying authorities to continue their systematic attacks on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, in flagrant violation of resolution 350 (1974) on the Disengagement of Forces Agreement. Israel persists in its quest to entrench its occupation of the Syrian Golan by imposing a policy of fait accompli, racial discrimination and arbitrary and inhumane practices against our people in the occupied Syrian Golan, openly flouting international law and issuing an unprecedented challenge to the will of the international community and to the relevant United Nations and Security Council resolutions, in particular resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973) and 497 (1981).”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The flagrant bias of the United States in favour of Israel reached an unprecedented extreme under the previous United States Administration, which took unilateral, provocative and illegal measures. Those acts were met with ringing condemnation from the Syrian Arab Republic and the overwhelming majority of Member States. Trump’s decisions on Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan are nothing more than unilateral acts coming from a party that lacks the political, legal or moral capacity to decide the fates of peoples or dispose of lands that are an integral part of the territories of the Syrian Arab Republic and occupied Palestine.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“Over the past five decades, certain permanent members of the Security Council, foremost among them the United States of America, have done everything in their power to protect and sponsor the Israeli occupying forces and cover up their systematic criminal and repressive practices against our people in the occupied Arab territories, guaranteeing that the representatives of the occupying Israeli authorities will be completely shielded from accountability and punishment for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and grave violations of human rights that they have committed. Such behaviour on the part of those States runs counter to their responsibilities and obligations to uphold the principles of the Charter and maintain international peace and security.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“The continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the Syrian Golan and the Shaba’a Farms in southern Lebanon for five decades and counting, reminds us yet again that the Security Council has long failed to uphold its responsibility to maintain international peace and security, and that it has been unable to compel Israel to comply with the will of the international community and the relevant resolutions, or to induce it to end its occupation of Arab territories, which is the main factor responsible for fuelling tensions and perpetuating conflict in our region.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“I would like to express our deep appreciation for your successful and outstanding management of the work of the Security Council this month. We reaffirm our support for your work and the Council’s mandate of maintaining international peace and security, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.”
2021-04-22 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/404 (2021) · source
“In the light of the preceding, the Syrian Arab Republic reiterates its demand for the lifting of unilateral coercive measures, the provision of international support and financial and technical demining resources and the implementation of programmes of action agreed to by the Syrian Government and UNMAS. That includes the provision of capacity-building in good faith without politicization, conditionality or selectivity and in direct coordination with the national authorities.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“In that regard, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour — in its capacity as the national coordinator of the Syrian Government’s efforts to ensure development inclusive of persons with disabilities — is coordinating the response to the needs of mine victims. The Ministry of Health does everything it can to provide those victims with health care. The Syrian Government has enacted a number of laws and measures to facilitate victims’ access to suitable education, employment and health care. There are presently 12 centres affiliated with the Government and non-governmental organizations that provide prosthetic limbs and free medical care to victims across the Syrian governorates. However, as important as these efforts are, there is a significant shortage of supplies and medical equipment, including prosthetic limbs themselves.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“Unfortunately, these activities have fallen short of desired levels due to the significant obstacles resulting from Western States linking any assistance to political conditions that are inconsistent with the humanitarian nature of demining work and withholding the financial and technical resources needed for a fully effective demining process. That constitutes an unacceptable politicization S/2021/346 that increases the number of victims and hinders the voluntary and safe return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes. It provides health care and support for persons affected by mines, including those who have lost limbs or suffered physical disabilities or deformities.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“In addition, the Syrian Government, in cooperation with relevant United Nations agencies such as UNICEF and UNMAS, other international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other humanitarian partners, has focused major efforts in the following three areas. It has organized campaigns to raise awareness among the population of the dangers of the remnants of unexploded ordnance, mines and booby traps. It has trained facilitators of both sexes and all ages and launched information campaigns that include leaflets, text messages, media advertisements, social media and highway billboards. It has conducted probes and technical reconnaissance, followed up by demining activities in the field.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“However, these efforts are facing major challenges owing to the increase in mine-contaminated areas, a lack of technical equipment and the latest advanced vehicles, and insufficient financial resources, in addition to the negative impacts of the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people. On 4 July 2018, the Syrian Government signed a formal agreement with the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to leverage its expertise and secure material and technical support for clearing areas contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, as well as to conduct a risk-awareness programme. Syria has repeatedly met with Agnès Marcaillou and her team to discuss enhancing cooperation, and the Syrian Government has done everything it can to facilitate the work of UNMAS in Syria.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“That has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians, including children of families returning to their regions and homes after being liberated from terrorism, as well as farmers tending their fields. The Syrian Government has made the task of protecting its citizens from mines and explosive remnants a top priority. It has made great efforts to raise awareness of their dangers, remove them and assist victims. Syrian Arab Army teams, supported by Russian military forces operating on Syrian soil, have put in motion urgent plans to remove mines from numerous liberated areas. We are also grateful for the support in this area provided by the Armenian Government.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“My delegation thanks you for organizing this meeting on mine action, which is important both for the maintenance of international peace and security and from a humanitarian perspective. The terrorist war waged against the Syrian Arab Republic in recent years has had a major impact on all aspects of life for the Syrian people. The Syrian Government has managed to liberate large areas of the country from terrorist organizations, primarily the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the Al-Nusra Front and associated entities. Nevertheless, Syrian lives continue to be threatened on a daily basis by the remnants of terrorist organizations in certain areas. Those organizations seeded the vast areas that used to be under their control with various types of mines and improvised explosive devices.”
2021-04-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/346 (2021) · source
“I assure that Syria, despite all the grave challenges posed by acts of foreign military aggression, terrorist organizations’ crimes, unilateral coercive measures and, recently, the spread of the coronavirus disease, will remain committed to defending its sovereignty and independence and the rights of its people and will continue to implement all its international obligations.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source
“The pledge made by the States Member of the United Nations to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, including preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and promoting other noble values represented by respect for international law and the principles of justice and equity, has unfortunately today become an arena for manipulation and exploitation by the United States and its Western allies and a tool to impose their agendas based on dominating the political decisions of Member States, controlling their national wealth and distorting the choices of their peoples. In conclusion, I renew our demand that these States stop politicizing this file, remove it from political games and stop the practices of pressure and blackmail.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source
“In order to justify this aggression, the United States later resorted to the exploitation of the inaccurate and unprofessional conclusions of the Joint Investigative Mission, whose work was full of grave flaws that led to the termination of its mandate. The advocates of ensuring accountability must not ignore the aggression of the United States, along with France and Britain, against my country in April 2018, under the same false pretexts surrounding another alleged incident in Douma, the subsequent investigations of which revealed major scandals.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source
“Such a practice will have dangerous repercussions on the future of the OPCW’s work and cooperation with it. Whoever claims to be keen on accountability and preventing impunity should not turn a blind eye to the crimes of terrorist groups and the aggressive practices of some countries against Syria. Those concerned with accountability should demand that the United States be held accountable for its crimes in the city of Raqqa and for its flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Syrian territories on this day in 2017 with its missile aggression against the Shayrat air base, which was targeted with 59 Tomahawk missiles under the pretext of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Khan Shaykhun, even before any investigation took place.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source
“The aforementioned draft resolution is further evidence of the continuation of these countries’ aggressive intentions against Syria and their violation of the procedural rules for working in the organization once again by rejecting the proposal of the Russian Federation to include this draft decision on the agenda of the ninety-sixth session of the Executive Council for discussion before referring it to the Conference of the States Parties. In that regard, my country renews its call to all Member States that adhere to the principles of international law and to reject the draft decision to protect the OPCW from the risk of transforming it from a technical organization with noble goals to a platform for the United States and its allies to exert pressure and target a State party to the Convention.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source
“Fourthly, some delegations have referred to the French-Western draft decision submitted for the second part of the twenty-fifth session of the Conference of the States Parties, scheduled to be held before the end of this month, and which was based on the inaccurate and unprofessional conclusions of the illegitimate so-called Investigation and Identification Team. The Syrian Arab Republic condemns the frantic pursuit by some Governments to promote allegations and fabrications about the so-called “non-compliance” of Syria with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
2021-04-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2021/337 (2021) · source