Berlin Group 21 : OPCW Investigations into the Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons in Syria Concealed a lot of Evidence and Facts

The German Berlin Group 21 has affirmed that the investigations conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria, specifically in Douma in April 2018, concealed a lot of evidence and manipulated the facts. It also stressed that the non-commitment of the United Nations and the OPCW to assuming their responsibilities in correcting these wrong conclusions indicates the extent of politicization the work of the OPCW is exposed to.

In a letter addressed to 193 permanent representatives to the OPCW, including the Syrian Permanent Mission, the group said: “the director general of the organization has ‘taken note’ of the review of the Berlin group, but has so far failed to provide any substantive response to the substantive issues raised by that review.”

The letter stated that since then, a report has been issued on the ongoing controversy in the organization regarding the 2018 Douma incident, focusing on the violations committed by the organization against the provisions of the convention in the investigations of its fact-finding missions in Syria.

The report makes proposals to restore the credibility of the OPCW, by ensuring its full return to work within the framework of the chemical weapons convention, and to demand that the senior management of the OPCW address the issues raised by former OPCW experts Brendan Whelan and Ian Henderson.

The letter stressed the procedural and substantive issues that came in its previous review on that incident, in addition to what was stated in the report of the European parliamentarians through the following points:

1- In June 2018, the original fact-finding mission report was secretly amended at the last minute, and its main findings were hidden, while misleadingly, without any scientific evidence, it refers to the release of chlorine gas.

This incident confirms that one or more officials inside the organization conspired to try to publish a scientifically misleading report.

2- The original toxicology report by NATO chemical warfare experts confirmed that the 43 civilian victims were not killed by chlorine gas. This result was later overlooked.

In the 2023 report of the investigation and identification team, misleading claims were made in order to indicate otherwise.

3- The organization’s reports adopted a clear pattern of misrepresentations involving ignoring inappropriate witness testimony, exaggerating chemical analyzes, and obfuscating important scientific studies.

These scientific flaws in the OPCW reports on the Douma incident make it clear that the fact-finding missions were operating outside the framework of the chemical weapons convention.

4- Fact-finding missions are a temporary mechanism whose processes and procedures have not been agreed upon in any intergovernmental treaty, and those processes and procedures lack transparency and accountability.

The group called on the Permanent Missions to the organization to support them in addressing these violations and falsifications in the work of the senior management of the organization, and to obtain answers from the director general of the organization to the questions raised years ago .

It should be noted that the Berlin G21 has already sent letters to the Technical Secretariat, the director-general of the organization, the secretary-general of the United Nations, the Security Council and the high representative of the secretary-general for Disarmament Affairs, demanding to correct these serious errors and faults in the organization’s reports on the alleged Douma incident in April 2018, and the group will continue to appeal to the UN secretary-general to end his silence on this issue, as it is a crucial geopolitical issue with implications for international peace and security.

Amal Farhat