Syria called on the international community to seriously work to compel Israel, the only party with nuclear military capacities outside the international supervision, to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open all its nuclear facilities to the international inspection, SANA reported.
Syria submitted on Wednesday a work paper to the NPT conference in New York, calling for putting pressure on Israel to implement the international legitimacy resolutions as a major step towards achieving regional and international peace and security.
The work paper pointed out that the NPT couldn't achieve balance among the three main axes of its goals in stopping the horizontal and vertical proliferation of nuclear weapons, the whole and comprehensive dismantling of all kinds of nuclear weapons and giving countries their whole and inalienable right of using nuclear energy technology in various peaceful applications away from double-standard policy.
The paper reflects Syria's concern over not achieving the universality of the NPT represented in Israel's obstinacy on not joining it or announcing its intention to join it or subject all its nuclear facilities to the international control, turning the Middle East into one of the most volatile regions in the world.
The Syrian work paper demanded the international community to abide by the provisions of Article 4 of the NPT which gives all member countries an inalienable right to possess nuclear technology for peaceful use in a balanced way away from discrimination and double-standard policy.
In this regard, Syria called on the international community to stop imposing restrictions on transfer of peaceful nuclear technology and equipment to the NPT member countries which have safeguard agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). No more restrictions should be imposed on peaceful use of this technology otherwise this would violate the spirit and provisions of the NPT, Syria demanded.
Syria asserted the role of the IAEA in facilitating transfer of technological equipment and information to the member states and encouraging them to conduct scientific research for peaceful purposes.
Syria also demanded complete non-interference in the IAEA work, stressing its commitment to the provisions of the safeguards agreement signed with the IAEA regarding all its nuclear activities provided that the IAEA achieves fair balance between its supervision and safeguard activities and those related to the transfer of nuclear technology and its applications.
Syria called on the international community, particularly the states which possess nuclear weapons, to shoulder their responsibilities and exert all efforts to outline the practical steps that guarantee full implementation of the Middle East decision issued by the NPT Review and Extension Conference, achieving its goals and eliminating all obstacles which hinder its implementation.
The Syrian work paper stressed the need for serious work to make the Middle East region free of nuclear weapons, underlining the importance of not linking this to the issue of achieving just and comprehensive peace in the region.
The paper referred to Syria's initiative presented to the UN Security Council in 2003 on behalf of the Arab Group for freeing the Middle East of weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons, where Syria announced before the international community that it will participate with Arab countries and peace-loving countries in achieving this goal.
Syria called on the countries which possess the nuclear weapons to present overall security guarantees to the NPT member countries which don't possess nuclear weapons.
The paper demanded that these countries should undertake not to threaten to use these weapons against the non-nuclear countries according to the UN Charter and commit themselves to carrying out the relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly.
Syria underlined that the outcome of Tehran Conference held in April 2010 under the title "Nuclear Energy for All, Nuclear Weapons for None," noting that any attack against peaceful nuclear facilities will have dangerous repercussions on humanity and the environment and be a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.
Syria was one of the first countries to join the NPT in 1968 due to its conviction that the existence of these weapons constitutes a big threat not only to the security and peace in the Middle East but also to the whole world.
Syria works on carrying out the resolutions regarding the NPT rules through its ad hoc committes in observing its land, marine and air crossings points in order to combat the smuggling of the radioactive and nuclear materials. Syria is meticulously committed to all relevant international obligations in this regard.
All the countries signatories to the Treaty and a number of international and non-governmental organizations are participating in the conference which started its activities on May 3.
...