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4/16/2018 Secretary-General's briefing to the Security Council on Syria [as delivered] | United Nations Secretary-General https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2018-04-14/secretary-generals-briefing-security-council-syria-delivered 2/3 Any use of chemical weapons is abhorrent. The suffering it causes is horrendous. I have repeatedly expressed my deep disappointment that the Security Council failed to agree on a dedicated mechanism for effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria. I urge the Security Council to assume its responsibilities and ll this gap. I will continue to engage with Member States to help achieve this objective. A lack of accountability emboldens those who would use such weapons by providing them with the reassurance of impunity. This in turn further weakens the norm proscribing the use of chemical weapons and the international disarmament and non-proliferation architecture as a whole. The seriousness of the recent allegations of the use of chemical weapons in Douma requires a thorough investigation using impartial, independent and professional expertise. I rearm my full support for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons – the OPCW -- and its Fact-Finding Mission in undertaking the required investigation. The team is already in Syria. I am informed that their operations plan to visit the site is completed and they are ready to go. I am condent that they will have full access, without any restrictions or impediments to perform their activities. Allow me to repeat what I said yesterday. Syria today represents the most serious threat to international peace and security. In Syria, we see confrontations and proxy wars involving several national armies, a number of armed opposition groups, many national and international militia, foreign ghters from everywhere in the world, and various terrorist organizations. From the beginning, we have witnessed systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and international law tout court — in utter disregard of the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. For eight long years, the people of Syria have endured suffering upon suffering. Syrians have lived through a litany of horrors: atrocity crimes, sieges, starvation, indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, the use of chemical weapons, forced displacement, sexual violence, torture, detention and enforced disappearances. The list goes on. At this critical juncture, I call on all Members to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations and with international law, including the norms against chemical weapons. If the law is ignored, it is undermined. There is no military solution to the crisis. The solution must be political