UN Authority Figures

UN Disarmament Commission Rapporteur: Syria

Syrian President al-Assad (left) with Iranian President Ahmadinejad (right) in Damascus in January 2006 (epa)

Mission of the UN Disarmament Commission: "The Disarmament Commission should continue to play a unique role within the mechanism on disarmament as the only body with universal membership for in-depth deliberations on relevant disarmament issues... the substantive agenda of the Disarmament Commission should normally comprise two agenda items...including one on nuclear disarmament..." (UN Disarmament Commission web-site, "Decision 52/492 Report of the Disarmament Commission")

Syria's Term of office: April 2007 -

Syria's Record on Disarmament:
"Israel's air attack on Syria last month [September 2007] was directed against a site that Israeli and American intelligence analysts judged was a partly constructed nuclear reactor, apparently modeled on one North Korea has used to create its stockpile of nuclear weapons fuel, according to American and foreign officials with access to the intelligence reports." ("Israel Struck Syrian Nuclear Project, Analysts Say," New York Times, October 14, 2007) "State sponsors of terrorism, Iran and Syria, continued to play destabilizing roles in the region."