India supports Russian-Chinese proposal at OPCW

India voted in favour of the Russian-Chinese proposal regarding Syria at the 23rd session of the Conference of State Parties (CSP) to the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) which concluded here on Tuesday.

The Russian-Chinese proposal sought to establish a working group to consider various proposals relating to the implementation of the decision on an Attribution Mechanism on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

At the same time, India abstained from voting on the overall budget proposal of OPCW for 2019.

The Permanent Representative of India to OPCW Venu Rajamony made two separate Explanations of Vote (EOV).

India had previously voted against the decision to set up an Attribution Mechanism at the 4th Special Session of the Conference of States Parties.

"India believes the decision on the Attribution Mechanism has adversely impacted this finely crafted balance in the Convention by endowing unprecedented powers to the Technical Secretariat headed by the Director-General, in place of primacy and oversight of the Executive Council and the Conference of States Parties," an official statement said.

Therefore, Rajamony stated that India supported the Russian-Chinese proposal as it could "help rebuild the consensus amongst States Parties and overcome the divisions over the Attribution Mechanism".

Regarding abstaining from voting on the Budget proposal, the Permanent Representative stated that India had supported the amendments proposed by Iran to the Budget proposal.

India stated that despite the absence of consensus on the Attribution Mechanism, the country made the decision to abstain and not vote against because of its "abiding support" for the OPCW.

The Russian-Chinese proposal was rejected by the CSP with a vote of 82 against and 30 in favour out of 112 State Parties present at voting while the Program and Budget for the OPCW were adopted with a vote of 99 in favour and 27 against out of a total of 126 State Parties present at voting.