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WORLD NEWS Thursday 19 april 2018

Douma chemical attack puts OPCW back in spotlight

By The Associated Press sphere for a long period,
THE HAGUE, Netherlands but physical damage to
(AP) — The Organization for the airways of victims ex-
the Prohibition of Chemi- posed to the gas will still be
cal Weapons has been clear even now, Zanders
thrust once again into the said in a telephone inter-
international limelight by a view. Team members can
nerve agent attack on a also take tissue samples
former Russian spy in Britain from survivors or victims to
and allegations of a chemi- check for traces or markers
cal bombardment on the of poison gas exposure.
Syrian city of Douma. ____
Once a little-known disar- WHAT WILL THE OPCW IN-
mament organization, the VESTIGATORS LOOK FOR?
OPCW rose to prominence The OPCW experts will look
when it won the 2013 Nobel for physical evidence such
Peace Prize and has stayed as munitions used in the at-
in the public eye ever since tack and traces of gas, if
amid repeated allegations they are still at the scene.
of chemical weapon use They will also study open-
in Syria during the Mideast source information such as
nation’s seven-year civil videos and other accounts
war. of the events. The team will
Members of the organiza- likely also seek to interview
tion’s Fact Finding Mission survivors, not just in Douma,
are in Syria attempting to In this Saturday, April 14, 2018 file photo, UN vehicles carrying the team of the Organization for but elsewhere if they were
investigate the alleged the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), arrive at hotel hours after the U.S., France and spirited away in the after-
chemical attack on Dou- Britian launched an attack on Syrian facilities for suspected chemical attack against civilians, in math of the April 7 inci-
ma, but have still not visited Damascus, Syria. dent. Also, Zanders said the
the town 11 days after the Associated Press OPCW experts would likely
incident. Syria and its ally first treaty to outlaw an en- tions of chemical weapon was disbanded last year af- have access to sophisticat-
Russia deny that an attack tire category of weapons. use. Its team of experts ter Russia vetoed an exten- ed software allowing them
took place. The Hague-based OPCW travels to the scenes of al- sion of its mandate in the to track aircraft move-
However, survivors reached has 192 members, includ- leged attacks to gather UN Security Council. Mos- ments around the time of
by The Associated Press said ing the United States, Russia samples, interview survivors cow claimed the JIM was the attack, information that
they were overwhelmed and Syria, covering about and medics and collect not professional or objec- could be used as evidence
by the smell of chlorine on 98 percent of the world’s other evidence. tive in its investigations. in the probe.
the night of April 7. Activists population. The small band Physical evidence is then ___ ____
say at least 40 people were of non-members includes sent to OPCW-accredited WHAT DOES THE DELAY IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
killed. Many were found Israel and North Korea. The laboratories for analysis. In REACHING DOUMA MEAN With the Joint Investigative
with foam around their OPCW oversees and veri- cases where the team is FOR THE OPCW’S INVESTI- Mechanism no longer in
mouths, an indicator for fies the destruction of ex- not able to visit the scene, GATION? existence, the Fact-Finding
suffocation. Medical work- isting chemical weapon the mission has in the past Chemical weapons ex- Mission’s report will be sent
ers said they treated symp- stockpiles, works with the carried out interviews with pert Jean Pascal Zanders to the OPCW’s director
toms including difficulty chemical industry to pre- survivors and witnesses said that the delay will general, who will share its
breathing and fainting. vent misuse and abuse of elsewhere. Its members mean that some physi- findings with member states
____ chemicals and investigates have repeatedly visited cal evidence of an attack and the United Nations.
WHAT IS THE OPCW? alleged chemical weap- Syria to investigate alleged would have degraded, but While there is no clear way
The Organization for the ons use. attacks. he added that other tell- of bringing perpetrators
Prohibition of Chemical ____ What it does not do is ap- tale markers of chemical to justice exists right now,
Weapons is the internation- WHAT DOES THE OPCW’S portion blame for attacks. weapons use will remain. any evidence of a chemi-
al body that implements FACT FINDING MISSION A joint investigative mech- Residue of chlorine, which cal attack will be saved for
the Chemical Weapons DO? anism between the United is the chemical suspected the future and it will inform
Convention. The conven- The Fact Finding Mission, Nations and OPCW, set up of being used in Douma, debate about the Syria
tion, which entered into set up in 2014, is mandated in 2015, was responsible for will eventually disappear if conflict at the U.N. and
force on April 29, 1997, is the with looking into allega- apportioning blame, but it left exposed to the atmo- elsewhere.q