Foreign and Commonwealth Office written question – answered at on 21 October 2014.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of access by ISIS to chemical weapons in Iraq; and what assistance his Department plans to give directly and through the international community to assist the government of Iraq in (a) safeguarding its citizens, (b) retrieving those materials and (c) preventing the use of those materials in the region.
We are aware of reports of the use of industrial chemicals as weapons by ISIL in Iraq, and encourage the Government of Iraq to bring to the attention of the OPCW any such incidents. We welcome its report to the OPCW Executive Council in October regarding the use of chlorine by terrorist groups.
We are also aware that the Al Muthanna military site is now in the control of ISIL. We continue to monitor the situation. However, we do not believe that the site contains chemical weapons-related materials of military value. Bunkers at the Al Muthanna site did contain hazardous chemical weapons-related materials used in Iraq’s Chemical Weapons programme. The materials were made safe by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) between 1992-1994.
While the Government of Iraq has kept the international community informed of incidents, and has reiterated its commitment to all international treaties and conventions aimed at preventing the use or spread of chemical weapons, it has made no requests for assistance to the international community.
We condemn unreservedly all and any use of chemical weapons by anyone. Use is a breach of international norms. Any party using any toxic chemical in this way should be brought to justice.
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