The Security Council requested on Friday, that United Nations experts review Iraq's weapons Declaration - due this weekend - before transmitting it to the 15-member body in order to allay concerns that the document itself could potentially foster arms proliferation.
Following closed-door consultations, Council President Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia said members had "decided to make UNMOVIC [UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission] the depositary of the Declaration, and asked UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to review it immediately with their experts from the standpoint of existing international treaties" on disarmament and non-proliferation.
"Members of the Security Council will meet next week to decide on the further handling of the Declaration," Ambassador Valdivieso told the press.
Also speaking to reporters, UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix said the members had discussed "the risks of releasing parts of this Declaration that might help to achieve proliferation of nuclear or biological or chemical weapons." He added that the Council was "fully aware that as the highest authority in the U.N. system for security, they must make sure that they respect the conventions" related to arms, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention.
Following closed-door consultations, Council President Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia said members had "decided to make UNMOVIC [UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission] the depositary of the Declaration, and asked UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to review it immediately with their experts from the standpoint of existing international treaties" on disarmament and non-proliferation.
"Members of the Security Council will meet next week to decide on the further handling of the Declaration," Ambassador Valdivieso told the press.
Also speaking to reporters, UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix said the members had discussed "the risks of releasing parts of this Declaration that might help to achieve proliferation of nuclear or biological or chemical weapons." He added that the Council was "fully aware that as the highest authority in the U.N. system for security, they must make sure that they respect the conventions" related to arms, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention.