Responding to the news that the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has voted to pass the UK’s resolution to create a mechanism to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks, Anna Neistat, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, said:

“Amnesty International welcomes the decision allowing the OPCW to attribute responsibility for chemical weapons attacks as a crucial step towards bringing perpetrators of war crimes to account.

“Today’s decision signals to victims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria and elsewhere that the international community has not abandoned them, and to perpetrators that they will be brought to justice.

“It is absolutely vital that the OPCW’s findings and evidence can now be used in international, or national, investigations and prosecutions.”

The OPCW member states today voted, by an 82 to 24 margin, in favour of a UK-led proposal to grant new powers to an OPCW mechanism to attribute responsibility for attacks with banned toxic munitions.