UNITED NATIONS: UN Security Council members Britain, Estonia and Ger­many denounced Syria on Wednesday for a lack of accountability after being accused of conducting chemical weapons attacks in 2017.

The accusations came in speeches delivered during a closed door Security Council videoconference, and later made public despite confidentiality rules.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons released a report April 8 blaming the Syrian military for chemical weapons attacks on the village of Lataminah in northern Syria in 2017.

The report was raised during the Security Council’s monthly meeting, held by videoconference during the coronavirus pandemic, by Britain, Estonia and Germany who, unlike the other 12 council members, chose to make their speeches public.

“It remains a fact that the Syrian authorities have not answered the questions raised over their CW program since it was declared,” Britain’s charge d’affaires at the UN, Jonathan Allen, said.

“By using these terrible weapons, by retaining a chemical weapons capability inconsistent with both its initial declaration and its alleged full destruction of its chemical weapons program in 2014, and by failing to comply fully with the OPCW, Syria remains in breach of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Security Council decisions set out in Resolution 2118,” he said.

Estonian Ambassador Sven Jurgenson stressed that the use of chemical weapons “cannot be tolerated.” “Those responsible must be held accountable,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2020