On March 5, 2025, the caretaker foreign minister of Syria, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, delivered a speech at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in which he promised that his government would eliminate the Syrian chemical weapons programme and bring the country back into compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). If implemented, this would end over a decade of Syrian violations of the CWC, offer the opportunity to hold those responsible to account, and reaffirm the global norm against chemical weapons. Deeds will have to follow these words, but this announcement at least allows for some cautious optimism in an otherwise gloomy international disarmament climate.
Schlagwort: chemical weapons
The French Arrest Warrant for Assad – Breaking New Ground in the Prosecution of Chemical Weapons Use?
On November 14, 2023, a French Magistrate Judge issued an arrest warrant for Syria´s President, Bashar al-Assad. The Court found sufficient evidence to initiate proceedings against Assad for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, specifically the use of chemical weapons. Yet, as this blog post will point out, Heads of State enjoy certain immunities under international law, which the French arrest Warrant thereby violates. This warrant could, however provide a necessary impetus to re-evaluate how states view immunities.
