Priorities for IBSA delegation to Syria: Human Rights
Protection

Antonio Patriota
Foreign Minister
Ministry of External Relations
Itamaraty Palace
Esplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco H
CEP 70170-900
Brazil

Shri Ranjan Mathai
Foreign Secretary
Ministry of External Affairs
South Block
New Delhi 11011
India

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Minister
Department of International Relations and Cooperation
Private Bag X152
Pretoria 0001
South Africa

August 4, 2011

Dear Excellencies,

We welcome your governments’ decision to send a joint delegation to Syria. This
is an important initiative of the IBSA countries with the potential to help end
the human rights violations against civilians in Syria. Our organizations and
more than 412,000 members of Avaaz, the on-line campaign network, who signed a
petition on Syria, are looking to IBSA to send a human rights delegation to
Syria immediately to press for an end to the mounting toll of human rights
abuses, including deaths, disappearances, torture and unlawful detention. We
hope this delegation will fulfill the hopes of these citizens across the world.

The delegation comes at a critical time. Over 130 people are reported to have
been killed across Syria since last Friday, 29 July 2011, bringing the total number
of reported fatalities since mass protests began in mid-March to over 1,600
people.  Many of them are reported to be protesters and local residents
shot by live ammunition from the security forces and the army.  

Thousands of others have been arrested in the wake of protests, with many being
held incommunicado at unknown locations in conditions that amount to enforced
disappearances and many reported to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated
in custody, in some cases resulting in death. There is growing evidence that
crimes committed amount to crimes against humanity as they appear to be part of
a widespread, as well as systematic, attack against the civilian population.

We believe it is essential, now the Security Council has finally spoken, that
the delegation amplifies the message of the Council’s Presidential Statement of
August 3. Following on that statement, your discussions should of course center
on urging the Syrian authorities to uphold their responsibility to protect and
immediately cease the use of systematic violence against civilians.  In
particular, you should call on Syria to end the use of lethal violence and
other excessive force against peaceful protestors, and respect all human rights
and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of
assembly.
 
We also ask that you prioritize access to Syria by the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) mission. The Security Council statement
explicitly called on Syria to “cooperate fully with the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights.” An independent investigation by OHCHR, as
mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council, would constitute a crucial
step in deterring crimes against humanity and establishing accountability for
the violations committed by all parties in Syria. The government of Syria,
however, has undermined the investigation by refusing the mission access to the
country. We hope that you will urge the Syrian authorities to cooperate fully
with the OHCHR mission and provide it immediate and unfettered access,
especially to places of detention. It is also vital that you stress the
importance of access for humanitarian missions, foreign journalists and
independent human rights groups.

In addition, we hope that you will give high priority during your mission to
seeking the release of political prisoners. Ending attacks on peaceful
protesters and the release of political prisoners are necessary conditions for
Syria’s protesters to regain trust and enable a real dialogue in Syria between
the authorities and protesters. Syrian authorities should be asked to
immediately release all arbitrarily detained persons, and cease any reprisals,
intimidation, persecution and arbitrary arrests of individuals, including
lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists.

The achievement of expanded access to Syria, particularly for the OHCHR
investigation, would be an important tangible success of the IBSA delegation.
We very much hope that the IBSA mechanism will help end the atrocities in
Syria, thereby contributing to establishing the effectiveness of efforts by
your countries to uphold international peace and security.

If we can provide you with any more detailed information ahead of the
delegation please let us know.

Sincerely

·        Avaaz
·        Amnesty International
·        Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
·        Human Rights Watch

For correspondence with the signatories of this letter please contact Crisis
Action at andrew.hudson@crisisaction.org
;
+1 646 233 1651