Current Vote Counting Procedure In OPCW Should Be Changed - Russian Official

THE HAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2018) The existing procedure of vote counting in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) needs to be changed, Georgy Kalamanov, the head of the Russian delegation to the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CSP CWC) in The Hague said Wednesday.

The CSP CWC was held in the Hague from Monday to Tuesday, while the fourth Review Conference of the OPCW started earlier in the day.

"It is necessary to take measures to change the decision-making procedure in the CSP. The current practice of counting votes, in which a minority can actually impose its will on the majority, is flawed and does not comply with the principle of consensus inherent in the CWC," Kalmanov said.

The conference approved on Tuesday the expanded OPCW budget for 2019 paving the way for the global chemical weapons watchdog to gain additional powers to assign responsibility for chemical attacks.

The conference also rejected the amendments proposed by Russia and Iran to the draft program and budget.

On June 27, the mandate of the OPCW was expanded in line with the UK-drafted motion, allowing the organization to assign responsibility for chemical weapons attacks. Moscow said it would not recognize the decision as legitimate, since only the UN Security Council is eligible to make such judgments, while the OPCW is only tasked with conducting probes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow is concerned about the future of the organization following this move.