PRESS RELEASE

November 29, 1999

for more information contact:
David Albright, President, at (703) 683-4862
or Corey Hinderstein, Policy Analyst at (202) 547-2696

Issue Brief

Reestablishing UN Security Council Weapons Inspections in Iraq

WASHINGTON, DC - The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) today released an issue brief that pieces together on-going UN Security Council efforts to craft a "comprehensive resolution" that would reestablish inspections of Iraq's programs to develop biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The five- page issue brief is can be found here.

According to media reports, the Security Council may be within a few weeks of voting on a resolution. This vote would follow months of negotiations among the Security Council's permanent five members to reach agreements on key points.

A November 10 draft resolution includes sections which would create a new inspection organization-the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission ("UNMOVIC")-to replace the now defunct UN Special Commission ("UNSCOM") to carry out inspections and monitoring of Iraq's proscribed biological, chemical and missile programs. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Action Team would resume its inspection and monitoring activities of Iraq's nuclear program. The draft resolution would further instruct UNMOVIC and the IAEA to develop and implement "clearly defined and precise...work programs" and identify a list of "key remaining disarmament tasks" that must be fulfilled by Iraq before sanctions are "suspended."

ISIS has been following the negotiations based on this November 10 draft "as best it can, given the secrecy that has surrounded them," according to the issue brief. In doing so, ISIS has identified several concerns and potentially unresolved issues that the Security Council needs to address, including:

• Consensus may yet elude the Security Council. Consensus approval of a resolution is necessary to ensure that Iraq will comply with its terms.

• The inspection and monitoring systems that were developed and implemented by UNSCOM and the IAEA Action Team until December 1998 may be inadvertently or deliberately weakened by the resolution. According to the ISIS issue brief, "the Security Council must exercise great care that a new resolution does not inadvertently weaken these systems, or provide Iraq with a way to challenge arrangements necessary to conduct adequate inspections."

• The new inspection agency should report directly to the Security Council, and should be as independent from the UN Secretariat as its predecessor. UNSCOM had great independence in fulfilling its mandate. Similarly, the IAEA should report directly to the Security Council.