Courage Foundation representatives: OPCW should regain its credibility

 A group of 18 experts and notable personalities representing the “Courage Foundation”, including the Brazilian diplomat Jose Bustani and American thinker Noam Chomsky, have stressed that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) should regain its credibility, particularly after the manipulation practiced by the organization’s fact-finding mission regarding the alleged use of chemical weapons in the Syrian city of Douma in 2018. They expressed their concern over the future of the organization because of the mission’s misleading conclusions and the OPCW’s attempts to defame the experts who spoke about its violations.

In a statement addressing the OPCW’s Director General Fernando Arias, the signatories said that several developments have occurred since the OPCW published its final report in March 2019 on the Douma incident, the Syrian News Agency SANA reported. They added that these developments raised concerns about the way the investigation was conducted.  Among these developments was the emergence of some cases in which some concerned investigators proved the existence of serious procedural and scientific irregularities and the leakage of a large number of attribution documents.

 According to the signatories, it has been proved that the rejection by some investigators, including a central figure, of the way the investigation reached the conclusions, has put the organization’s administration in the position of the accused for accepting baseless conclusions or results that may have been tampered with and that have security and geopolitical impacts. They said that the repeated calls of the investigators to give them an opportunity to discuss issues of concern to them within the organization were ignored, and the calls of some members of the organization’s executive council to listen to all investigators have been suspended.

They clarified that the organization has so far failed to respond to accusations against it and it absolutely refused to listen to the opinions and concerns of the members of the investigation team despite it always claims the opposite. In fact, instead of meeting with members of the investigation team, the higher administration of the organization circumvented the issue by conducting an investigation into the leakage of a document about the Douma incident, and by publicly condemning its most daring investigators because he spoke clearly about this issue, the signatories made it clear.

They wondered why some Security Council members prevented former Director of the OPCW Jose Bustani from participating in a hearing session at the council about Syria’s chemical file, noting that in an appeal to the current Director General of the OPCW, Bustani said that if the organization was confident of the method of investigation in Douma, it would not find any difficulties in dealing with the investigators’ concerns.

According to the signatories, another disturbing development has recently taken place, which is the leakage of what was claimed to be a draft letter from the Director General to one of the resigned investigators. The letter was published on an open source investigation website, in an attempt to defame the former prominent scientist in the organization and reveal his identity. In another deeply disturbing development, an unidentified source, who was said to have connection to the organization’s investigation into Douma incident, has violated the organization’s instructions and conducted an interview with a radio program on BBC 4 in which he defamed the resigned investigators and insulted ambassador Bustani. The signatories also indicated that a further important thing is what was confirmed by the leaks released last December which showed that these concerns are also shared by senior officials of the organization who supported the investigator, who spoke openly about the work negligence that occurred.

The signatories emphasized that this issue harms the OPCW’s reputation and credibility seriously and undermines its vital role in seeking the establishment of international peace and security, pointing out that it is unacceptable for a scientific organization such as the OPCW to refuse to publicly respond to the criticisms and concerns of its scientists.

 In addition, the signatories said that the ongoing controversy over the Douma report also raises concerns about whether the fact-finding team’s previous reports, including the report on the Khan Sheikhoun incident in 2017, can be trusted.

The signatories called on the OPCW’s Director General to provide a transparent and neutral platform where the concerns of all investigators can be heard, and to ensure that an objective and scientific investigation is fully conducted. They urged him to enjoy the courage to face and solve the current problems within the OPCW, that relate to the investigation into Douma incident.

 “This is the way the credibility and integrity of the organization can be restored,” the signatories stressed.  

  Hamda Mustafa