Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
STATEMENT MADE BY
THE DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN
(Paris, April 14, 2000)
The Security Council has just unanimously approved the plan presented by Mr. Blix for the new weapons control and verification commission (UNMOVIC).
France's assessment of the report presented by Mr. Blix in cooperation with the Secretariat is positive. We are particularly satisfied that the chairman of the commission was careful to consult with everyone and largely took into consideration French ideas that we had resumed in four principles concerning the way UNMOVIC should operate: a cooperative management structure, effectiveness, internationalism (that is to say a diverse geographical origin for members of the commission) and lastly professionalism, which means especially in our view that the disarmament experts have an obligation to be independent.
The personnel of the new commission will be paid by the United Nations and will receive no instructions from their home governments. They should be recruited from the broadest possible geographic base. To our mind, the net should also be cast as wide as possible in renewing the teams.
The proposed organization chart shows a radical innovation in relation to UNSCOM. In accordance with our proposals, the collegial nature of the commission is strengthened by the establishment of two new departments: one for operations carried out by the disarmament experts, the other for a comprehensive evaluation and analysis of the information collected. This new organization has two advantages:
- it will prevent the inspectors from being both judge and party;
- it will allow for a comprehensive approach. Searches have to be carried out for documents, weapons and proof, but one has to be able to distinguish between the salient and the peripheral, and to assess matters in terms of the operational character of weapons and the lingering military threat to the security of neighboring states.
We believe that Mr. Blix has learned the lessons from the unfortunate experience of UNSCOM and the deviations it led to. Like UNSCOM, the commission will have to establish long-term monitoring and complete Iraq's disarmament. Contrary to UNSCOM, the new commission will have to be able to reconcile the search for effectiveness with an approach adapted and based on Baghdad's necessary cooperation.
We have to consider the next stages in the implementation of resolution 1284. A genuinely new commission will have to be able to demonstrate that the page has been turned on UNSCOM. We will also have to demonstrate that the conditions for suspending sanctions can be met. Our action must therefore remain within the framework set by the United Nations.
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