Text of Draft Syrian Resolution

The NYT has the text of the draft UN Security Council Resolution on Syria.  The most important paragraph is the penultimate one, which states that the Security Council “[d]ecides, in the event of non-compliance with this resolution, including unauthorized transfer of chemical weapons, or any use of chemical weapons by anyone in the Syrian Arab Republic, to impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.”  I think this means that non-compliance will result in Chapter VII sanctions, but the Resolution does not itself impose sanctions, much less authorize a use of force, in the case of Syrian non-compliance.  Any such U.N.-authorized sanctions, and the existence of a non-compliance predicate, will have to be debated and decided in another round before the Security Council, subject to Russia’s veto. Compare U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, the 2002 Iraq Resolution.  It stated that the Security Council, “Acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations,” recalls in the light of Iraq’s possible non-compliance with WMD disarmament “that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations.”