Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles will be destroyed following a historical resolution vote by the United Nations (UN).
The vote by the United Nations Security Council passed unanimously as all 15 members of the council voted in favor of the US compromise with Syria’s major ally, Russia.
Members of the council voted on the decision after two weeks of intense negotiations.
Syria has been in the news a lot lately after it was revealed that more than 100,000 Syrians were killed during fighting over more than two years. Millions of other citizens have been displaced because of the country’s civil war.
After the UN issued its unanimous vote Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the council: “Today’s historic resolution is the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time.”
Foreign Secretary William Hague also chimed in: “The failure of the council to tackle the crimes committed on a daily basis has resulted in a culture of impunity in which a brutal regime believed it could get away with murdering its own men, women and children,” he said.
Hague added:
“So it is vital that the council now builds on the consensus we have reached today to make progress today towards a sustainable resolution of the crisis. With renewed purpose and resolve, we need to achieve a political transition.”
US Secretary of State John Kerry, the man credited with bringing about the chemical weapons talks, said the “strong, enforceable, precedent-setting” resolution showed diplomacy can be so powerful. Kerry added “that it can peacefully defuse the worst weapons of war.”
The vote marks the first time that the UN council fully threw its support behind a roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations in June 2012.
The group has asked that the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons happens as soon as possible.
A new peace conference in Geneva is likely to occur in mid-November.
The group has promised to punish Syria if its chemical weapons are not destroyed under terms of the new UN-issued policy.
