On December 28, The United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced that the December 31 deadline for complete destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons will not be met. Citing “a number of external factors,” the announcement by the UN and the OPCW signals a failure of the international community to meet a key and ambitious deadline for chemical weapons destruction.
As reported by the HPR in October, the success of the OPCW in Syria is key to its validity and mission as an organization. The OPCW was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of these aspirations, so the achievement of its goals in Syria is a key concrete and philosophical benchmark for the organization.
This is not to say the organization has not achieved success in Syria. The OPCW met a key November 1 deadline, reporting all chemical weapons production facilities in Syria had been destroyed.
The UN and OPCW have stressed that this missed deadline will not reduce the urgency or importance of the mission. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, in a statement from his spokesperson, stressed the difficult circumstances of the mission and the ongoing nature of the work. Said the statement, “The Secretary-General stresses that the international effort to eliminate the chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic continues to make effective progress, as demonstrated by the steady achievements in meeting all previous milestones the past three months.”
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