The Head of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism, Ms. Virginia Gamba, will address the journalists at the media stakeout today at 5pm, following her briefing to the Security Council on the Mechanism’s third report.

The Mechanism conducted an independent, impartial and objective investigation as a sub-organ of the Security Council, led by a three-member Leadership Panel (Virginia Gamba, Adrian Neritani, Eberhard Schanze). The Mechanism was mandated by Security Council resolution 2235 (2015) to identify to the greatest extent feasible those involved in the use of chemicals as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic where the OPCW Fact Finding Mission (FFM) determined that a specific incident involved or likely involved the use of chemicals as weapons.

The OPCW supported the Mechanism’s work by providing access to the FFM findings, which represented the starting point for the Mechanism’s investigation into nine cases related to incidents between April 2014 and September 2015. The Mechanism independently collected and analysed further information and evidence that contributed to the identification of those involved in the use of chemicals as weapons.