Introduction

Aaron Matte: I recently spoke at a meeting of UN Security Council members about the OPCW's cover-up scandal in Syria. He says he found it unfortunate that this controversy is still being debated in public rather than being addressed by the OPCw. The UK was among the states that have tried very hard to suppress any accountability for this cover-up,Matte says. In 1988, eight years after diplomatic negotiations began, Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army conducted a chemical weapons attack on Halabja which killed between 3,000 and 5,000 people. That incident brought increased urgency to secure a commitment from all countries to never use or transfer chemical weapons.