Armenia strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons towards the civilian populations, Tigran Balayan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said in a statement at the 25th session of the OPCW conference of state parties.
The Ambassador emphasized the unacceptability of any use of a toxic chemical, which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm, also in such a covert or collateral manner, which might subsequently lead to ambiguous
interpretation of the definition of toxic chemical and result in inaction of the international body responsible for the ultimate aim of the Convention of ensuring a world free of chemical weapons.
“Armenia reiterates the need to give a proper assessment to the behavior of certain States Parties, which get involved in, plan and commit actions with a clear intention of creating conditions for unpunishable use of chemical weapons, in total contradiction to the purposes and objectives of a
number of conventions, including CWC. In this regard we are convinced that the Technical Secretariat should use all its powers derived from the Convention to exclude any possibility of such unpunishable use of chemical weapons and to assist those States Parties, requesting corresponding assistance in investigating even the incidents of undefined character,” Amb. Balayan stated.
Furthermore, he added, advocating for impartial, credible and transparent investigation of any case of use of chemical weapons or related hazardous materials, Armenia strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons towards the civilian populations, as well as any regular armed forces during a warfare, including the use of white phosphorus by Azerbaijan and Turkey during the military actions against Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh, among other innumerable war crimes.
“The further discordance and the deepening of the politicization within the Organization is yet another matter of high concern. The previous and some current developments do not seem to add up to the consensus based policy-making process, neither prove themselves to be contributing to the common goal of establishing mutually beneficial cooperation among all the States Parties. We are convinced that the Organization should remain a technical body, ensuring the rights of any State Party,” Tigran Balayan said.
