By
Joseph
Klein
The
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-UN Joint Investigative
Mechanism (JIM), which was established in August 2015 under a unanimously
approved Security Council resolution, was assigned the responsibility to
determine who was responsible for a series of chemical attacks since 2013 that
killed Syrian civilians. The independent expert panel concluded that there was
sufficient evidence to determine that the Syrian government had used chemical
weapons on three separate occasions from 2014 to 2015, while ISIS had used them
at least once. With that conclusion in hand, the United States, United Kingdom
and France introduced a draft resolution on February 28th imposing
sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter on Syrian government officials and
entities linked to the chemical weapons attacks; placing an embargo on arms
sales and chemicals intended to be used as weapons; and establishing a
sanctions committee and panel of experts to monitor the implementation of these
measures. Russia and China vetoed the draft resolution, which blocked its
adoption. Bolivia also voted no. Nine Security Council members voted yes, and
three abstained. [more...]
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