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Syria Launches Initiative to Establish Global Tribunal for Chemical Weapons

© AFP 2023 / Omar haj kadourA Syrian man collects and bags the body of a dead bird, reportedly killed by a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017
A Syrian man collects and bags the body of a dead bird, reportedly killed by a suspected toxic gas attack in Khan Sheikhun, in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, on April 5, 2017 - Sputnik International, 1920, 30.11.2023
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November 30 marks a day globally dedicated to remembering victims of chemical weapons. The Syrian Arab Republic has put forward an initiative to tackle the long-standing justice gap in international law by establishing a specialized global tribunal to address these atrocities.
Diplomats from at least 44 countries on all continents took part in discussions on the initiative.
Although the usage of chemical weapons was banned by the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention and the Geneva Conventions, they have been reportedly used a number of times with few perpetrators brought to justice.
The proposed tribunal, developed over two years by Syrian rights groups, legal experts and others, aims to prosecute the use of banned toxic agents globally. The new court is intended to fill a critical gap, focusing specifically on chemical weapons atrocities.

"There have been international courts for war crimes, from the Balkans to Rwanda and Lebanon, but none that focused on the specific crime of deploying chemical weapons," Dapo Akande, a British barrister and member of the United Nations International Law Commission, explained.

The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has condemned any use of chemical weapons, referring specifically to the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission findings - Sputnik International, 1920, 29.04.2023
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The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), has often been accused of biased approach in investigations. The organization has been prone to accuse the Syrian government, while neglecting atrocities committed by the Kiev regime or provocations of jihadists fighting against Damascus.
Despite the fact that the OPCW confirmed Syria disposed of its chemical weapons in 2016, the organization has claimed it was the Syrian military who used chemical weapons in the April 2018 Douma chemical incident. Such inconsistencies have been plaguing the OPCW, raising questions regarding its credibility.
The necessity of a dedicated tribunal is further underscored by the limited number of investigations relating to chemical attacks in Syria.
The International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) has been inefficient in conducting investigations into chemical attacks in Syria. Catherine Marchi-Uhel, head of the IIIM, emphasized the lack of justice opportunities for victims of these attacks and expressed readiness to collaborate with the proposed court.
A militants' chemical laboratory for the production of toxic agents and explosives in the basement of a residential building in the liberated Syrian town of Douma near Damascus - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.02.2020
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