United Nations Security Council Resolution 2118 was adopted unanimously on 27 September 2013, in regard to the Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons during the Syrian civil war. It recalled United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1540, 2042 and 2043 and occurred on the sidelines of the General debate of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Under the Resolution, Syria had until mid-2014 to destroy its chemical weapons arsenal; and the Resolution also outlines plans for a transition. Despite a few hiccups, the OPCW reported that the destruction was largely on schedule.
Background
According to the United Nations, chemical weapons had been used in the Ghouta attacks on 21 August 2013. The Syrian government blamed rebels for the attack and for all other chemical weapons attacks in Syria. In response to the Ghouta events, a coalition of countries led by the United States and France, blamed the Syrian government for the attack and threatened air strikes on Syria as punishment. Russia maintained its opposition to any military action in Syria and blocked Western-led efforts at the United Nations Security Council for UN-sanctioned military intervention.
During the G20 summit on 6 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed the idea of putting Syria's chemical weapons under international control.
On 9 September 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that the air strikes could be averted if Syria turned over "every single bit" of its chemical weapons stockpiles within a week, but State Department officials stressed that Kerry's statement and its one-week deadline were rhetorical in light of the unlikelihood of Syria turning over its chemical weapons. However, hours after Kerry's statement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Russia had suggested to Syria that it relinquish its chemical weapons and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem immediately welcomed the proposal. This then led to the Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons. After Syria ratified the treaty to join the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and turned over a preliminary set of documents in regard to its chemical weapons stockpile to the OPCW, more discussions and Russian claims that the West was seeking to ensure air strikes would remain an option if the chemical weapons were not turned over, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution 2118.
Prior to the vote, the Executive Council of the OPCW adopted a blueprint with a timeline of verification, removal and destruction of Syria's arsenal of sarin and other chemical weapons by mid-2014 in an "accelerated" programme compared to the regular destruction deadlines under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü said: "This decision sends an unmistakable message that the international community is coming together to work for peace in Syria, beginning with the elimination of chemical weapons in that country."
Resolution During the discussion for the resolution from 20:15 to 21:45 EST, speakers included the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia (Sergey Lavrov), the United States (John Kerry) the United Kingdom (William Hague), Luxembourg (Jean Asselborn), France (Laurent Fabius), Azerbaijan (Elmar Mammadyarov), South Korea (Yun Byung-se), China (Wang Yi), Guatemala (Fernando Carrera), Morocco (Saad-Eddine El Othmani) and Argentina (Héctor Timerman), as well as the Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs of Pakistan (Sartaj Aziz) and the permanent representatives of Rwanda, Togo and Australia.
After recalling United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1540, 2042 and 2043, the resolution reaffirmed the Security Council′s "strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic", reaffirmed "that the proliferation of chemical weapons, as well as their means of delivery, constitutes a threat to international peace and security", recalled that Syria had on 22 November 1968 acceded to the 1925 Geneva Protocol, condemned "any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on 21 August 2013, in violation of international law", and bound Syria to the implementation plan presented in a decision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW): Syria had until 30 June 2014 to complete the destruction of its chemical weapons.
The resolution also calls for a "transitional governing body exercising full executive powers, which could include members of the present Government and the opposition and other groups and shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent;" while still claiming the process is "for the Syrian people to determine the future of the country. All groups and segments of society in the Syrian Arab Republic must be enabled to participate in a national dialogue process. That process must be not only inclusive but also meaningful." The steps in this regard include a review of the constitutional order and the legal system. The result of constitutional drafting would be subject to popular approval; upon establishment of the new constitutional order, it will be necessary to prepare for and conduct free and fair multiparty elections for the new institutions and offices that have been established; women must be fully represented in all aspects of the transition. It further noted the difficulty of a transition and mentioned that such a transition should be peaceable.
Issues While enforcement of the resolution was an issue, another problem that arose was dealing with the chemical weapons, as only the U.S. and Russia have the industrial-scale capacity to store and dispose of the chemical weapons. As such Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced two days before the resolution that Russia would be willing to offer its assistance in securing the chemical-weapons sites, it would not take possession of any part of the arsenal; since the U.S. bans the importation and transportation of such munitions, the inspectors would have to work inside Syria amid the civil war. Boston University professor William Keylor wrote to Bloomberg: It is hard to imagine chemical-weapons inspectors, protected by Russian or other troops, engaging in the complicated task of destroying the stockpiles of chemical weapons in the midst of a civil war. If the inspectors or their protectors come under fire from either side, what will the response of the international community be?
Reactions United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: For many months, I have said that the confirmed use of chemical weapons in Syria required a firm, united and decisive response. Tonight, the international community has delivered. A red light for one form of weapons does not mean a green light for others. This is not a license to kill with conventional weapons. All the violence must stop. All the guns must fall silent.
Supranational bodies The OPCW Executive Council Decision indicated that it would start inspections no later than 1 October and that a plan was approved to eliminate all of Syria's chemical weapons by mid-2014.
States Domestic Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said: "We will commit because we are determined to go forward in the respect of [the agreement of] destroying the chemical weapons." Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari also hailed the resolution and added that Syria was "fully committed" to attending the proposed peace conference and that the resolution answered the concerns of Syria and those who supported the opposition - Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and the US - should also abide by it. However, the partisan opposition leader, Ahmad al-Jarba, said that the accord will not "end the suffering in Syria."
Rest of the world Many states welcomed the resolution in general, while some, like Bahrain, Togo and Denmark, specifically welcomed the resolution at the general debate of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi applauded the unanimous resolution and welcomed peace initiatives for the conflict, saying: This is the first time that the Security Council has taken a joint major action on the Syrian issue in more than one year. In dealing with the Syrian issue, the Security Council must bear in mind the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, act with a sense of responsibility to the Syrian people, the world and history, and ensure that any decision it takes can stand the test of history. We hope that the relevant parties will stay in close cooperation, fulfil their respective responsibilities and implement the OPCW decision and Security Council resolution in a comprehensive and accurate manner so as to eventually achieve a proper settlement of the issue of chemical weapons in Syria. He added that neither Syria not the region could afford another war.
France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Syria's cooperation "must be unconditional and fully transparent. This resolution is not our final goal, but only a first step. We must now implement it. One cannot trust a regime, which, until recently, denied possessing such weapons."
Russia's Sergey Lavrov said of the resolution that it "does not allow for any automatic use of force or measures of enforcement" for compliance failures and that the UN Security Council would then have to "carefully" consider any decisions on enforcement. He, however, also said: "The United Nations Security Council ... will stand ready to take action under Chapter VII of the charter, quite clearly."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on the Syrian government to "give unfettered access" to its stocks of chemical weapons and would face repercussions for its failure to do so. He added: This resolution makes clear that those responsible for this heinous act must be held accountable. We are here because actions have consequences and now, should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences... Our original objective was to degrade and deter Syria's chemical-weapons capability [and a U.S. attack] could have achieved that. Tonight's resolution accomplishes even more [by moving to eliminate] one of the largest chemical-weapons stockpiles on earth. His call for access was echoed by British Foreign Secretary William Hague. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said: "This resolution breaks new ground. The Security Council is establishing a new international norm;" while the National Security Advisor Susan Rice said called it "a strong, binding and enforceable UNSC resolution." Skepticism came from Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham who issued a join statement that read the accord does not change the "reality on the ground" and added: "This resolution is another triumph of hope over reality. It contains no meaningful or immediate enforcement mechanisms, let alone a threat of the use of force for the Assad regime's noncompliance. The whole question of enforcement has been deferred." Prior to the vote the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Robert Menendez was concerned that the vote would shift focus from ending "the barbarism and wanton violence of the Assad regime" to removing one method of war.
Others The editor of Russia in Global Affairs, Fyodr Lukyanov, said of the deal that "it was the compromise version;" while the director for Eurasia and the Middle East at the Eurasia Group, Cliff Kupchan, said: "It was predictable in the best way it could be. We're very clear-eyed about this." The associate director of New York University's Center on International Cooperation wrote: "The language of the resolution is less important than Russia's willingness to make Assad comply. The whole deal still pivots on Moscow's commitment to making it work."
Follow-up