THE HAGUE: Saudi Arabia’s permanent delegation to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has supported Palestine’s request for monitoring the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, citing concerns over adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Prince Jalawi bin Turki Al Saud, leading the Saudi delegation made the remarks at the 108th session of the organisation’s Executive Council in The Hague, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
He also reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the importance of its full implementation.
Emphasising that chemical weapons use is a crime, the delegation supported Palestine’s monitoring request and welcomed progress on the Syrian chemical weapons file, urging cooperation for its resolution.
Palestine, which became a member of the OPCW in 2018, has been urging the organisation to monitor Israel’s adherence to the Chemical Weapons Convention, especially in light of repeated allegations regarding Israel’s use of such weapons.
The delegation also praised the outcomes of the Rabat AI conference on CWC implementation.
According to the Arms Control Association, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral treaty that bans chemical weapons and requires their destruction within a specified period of time.
The treaty is of unlimited duration and is far more comprehensive than the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which outlaws the use but not the possession of chemical weapons.
The CWC is implemented by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which is headquartered in The Hague.
The OPCW receives states-parties’ declarations detailing chemical weapons-related activities or materials and relevant industrial activities. A
The CWC is open to all nations and currently has 193 state parties. Israel has signed but has yet to ratify the convention. Three states have neither signed nor ratified the convention (Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan).
