The Fourth Review Conference of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) ended without any tangible result as it failed to ratify a document which had the consensus of all member states due to the US objection. The conference held in The Hague on November 21-30 and presided over by El Salvador envoy to the OPCW fell short of finalizing the document despite having the approval of most member states. Discussion on the final draft of the document was on the agenda of the conference and the document had achieved the consensus agreement of most member states despite some slight differences remaining among them. Despite the rough consensus made earlier, the US representative at the OPCW slammed member states for their agreement with the membership of the Palestinian government in the organization as well as their silence towards western accusations against Syrian government over what is described as use of chemical weapons against civilians. The American envoy underlined that the document should also include a new point giving the OPCW the authority to identify and accuse a country of using chemical weapons. The US delegate then said the consensus on the agreement should not distract efforts to define use of chemical weapons by the organization. He also repeated some unfounded accusations against Russia, Syria, Iran and Venezuela and expressed his dissatisfaction with the draft document. Following in his footsteps, delegates from some western states like Canada, France and Britain expressed their dissatisfaction with the document. Even unofficial negotiations by the chairperson of the conference couldn’t convince the western states to approve the draft document. Iran rejected the baseless accusations leveled by the US, saying Washington is hampering the conference’s efforts as the world’s biggest user of weapons of mass destruction and a leading violator of international regulations. It said the OPCW has set a good record over the past 20 years by working efficiently based on the principle of Security for All. “Politicizing the OPCW operations in this conference and adopting factional policies in interpreting the organization’s regulations will create a dangerous division in the structure of the OPCW with final collapse of the world body in prospect. With its destructive and divisive policies, the US has already violated its international pledges and thus lacks the credibility to cast doubt on the decisions made by the board of directors of the organization. Given the failure of the conference to achieve the goals on the agenda due to the politically-motivated policies of certain western states to impose their desired points on the document, the main issue lingering in mind is the future of the organization. With such policies, they are creating divisions in the international body.
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