DYB2011-Part-II-web

United Nations Disarmament Yearbook 2011: Part II
30
any assessment concerning their nature or operational status. 63 Concerning the
Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR), a plan of action was agreed upon
in September 2010 for resolving the inconsistencies identified by the Agency,
and the Syrian Arab Republic provided requested access to Homs. The report
concluded that the matter would be addressed in the routine implementation
of safeguards. 64
On 9 June, the Board of Governors adopted a resolution in which, inter
alia, it found “that Syria’s undeclared construction of a nuclear reactor at
Dair Alzour and failure to provide design information for the facility ... are a
breach of Articles 41 and 42 of the Syrian Arab Republic’s NPT Safeguards
Agreement, and constitute non-compliance with its obligations under its
Safeguards Agreement with the Agency in the context of Article XII.C of
the Agency’s Statute”. The Board also decided “to report, as provided for in
Article XII.C of the Statute, through the Director General, the Syrian Arab
Republic’s non-compliance with its Safeguards Agreement to all members of
the Agency and to the Security Council and General Assembly of the United
Nations, to provide to the Security Council all reports prepared by the Director
General related to the issue, and to make the text of this resolution as well as
all previous reports on this issue available to the public”. 65
Application of IAEA Safeguards in the Middle East
IAEA Forum on Experience of Possible Relevance to the Creation of
a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in the Middle East
In 2000, the IAEA General Conference adopted decision GC(44)/DEC/12,
in which the Conference requested the Director General, inter alia, to
develop an agenda and modalities, which would help to ensure a successful
forum on the relevance of the experience of existing nuclear-weapon-free
zones (NWFZs), including confidence-building and verification measures
for establishing an NWFZ in the region of the Middle East. As mandated by
decision GC(44)/DEC/12, the Director General sought the views of member
States of the Middle East region with regard to developing an agenda and
modalities for convening a forum in which participants from the Middle East
and other interested parties could learn from the experience of other regions,
including in the area of confidence-building. In this regard, the Agency
63 IAEA, “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Syrian Arab Republic”,
document GOV/2011/30, para. 33. Available from http://www.iaea.org/Publications/
Documents/Board/2011/gov2011-30.pdf (accessed 9 May 2012).
64 Ibid., para. 34.
65 IAEA, “Implementation of the NPT safeguards agreement in the Syrian Arab Republic”,
document GOV/2011/41 (9 June 2011), para. 3. Available from http://www.iaea.org/
Publications/Documents/Board/2011/gov2011-41.pdf (accessed 9 May 2012).