OPCW restores rights to Syria under Moroccan chairmanship

Under the chairmanship of Morocco's Ambassador to the Netherlands, Mohamed Basri, the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) adopted a decision on Thursday, July 9, during its 112th session in The Hague, restoring the Syrian Arab Republic's rights and privileges within the organization, which had been suspended since 2021. The decision, backed by 67 States Parties, including Morocco, representing various regional groups, was adopted by consensus.

Before the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, Syrian government forces had repeatedly used chemical weapons against civilians, most notably in Eastern Ghouta on August 21, 2013, and Khan Sheikhoun on April 4, 2017. The two attacks left thousands of people dead or injured.

In 2021, the OPCW suspended Syria's rights and privileges after it failed to declare the full extent of its chemical weapons programme and following confirmed findings that it had used chemical weapons on Syrian territory, in violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention.