Radwan Ziadeh
Director of Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies
Geneva, December 2, 2011
18th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic that was held in Geneva, on 2 December 2011.
The United Nations Council for Human Rights met last April in a special session regarding Syria, during that meeting the documented number of victims or fallen heroes who were killed due to simply peacefully protesting was 600 fallen heroes. Later in the past month of August, the Council met again when the number of fallen heroes increased to reach 2600. Finally we meet again today before the Council and the number has escalated reaching 4000 Fallen Heroes.
In my point of view, not only the Human Rights council is required to monitor the increasing number of dead victims and fallen heroes for one of its states’ members in the UN, I think that the Human Rights council is supposed to take all the necessary measures to stop the bloodshed and to protect civilians. The Syrian system has lost its legitimacy entirely and has transformed in to a gang that murders civilians and executes genocides against its own citizens. In addition to that the regime tortures innocent citizens and kills them as described in the report of the Independent International Commission that’s presented among you.
The heart of every Syrian is tremendously hurting by watching the fall of these victims on a daily bases and it is more painful absorbing the slow response of the international community’s by not taking “all necessary measures” to protect civilians and to refer these “crimes against humanities” to the international Criminal Court. The report of the Independent International Commission is the second one to be issued upon your request without the permission of any committee to enter Syria as the Syrian government prohibits that; whether it was a fact-finding committee or a committee of independent experts where the government continues to repeat the falsified accusations and lies about the so-called “armed gangs”.
Cities like Homs, Daraa, Idlib, Deir Al-Zour, the suburbs and cities of Damascus, are experiencing brutal punitive measures targeting all civilians as a result of their participation in peaceful demonstrations designed to topple the existing regime; Moreover, they are being punished because they wanted to have a multi-party elections and to build a democratic system that protects the rights of Syrians and expresses their aspirations.
These punitive measures and sanctions committed against the above mentioned cities left behind a humanitarian crisis and placed them on the brink of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in terms of loss of medical supplies and the basic food needed. With the arrival of winter season, the deliberately existing system prevented obtaining the necessary fuel needed for heating. The Syrian Regime continues the occupation and the development of security and military barriers all around the Syrian cities, subsequently these barriers are used to arrest citizens randomly to exceed the number of detainees to more than thirty thousand. The Syrian regime turned many schools, playgrounds, and health centers into mass detention and torture centers where many innocent Syrian are being imprisoned and arbitrary detained.
As the United Nations Council for Human Rights (UNHRC) discusses the report of the Independent International Commission, a recommendation should clearly refer the file of “Crimes against humanity” committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court. Furthermore the (UNHRC) should urge all institutions and agencies of the United Nations to take the responsibilities of protecting civilians and securing all the necessary requirements in order to avoid humanitarian disaster in different Syrian cities.
For the first time in the history of the Council, a meeting is held three times in less than seven months approving these crimes against humanities that are taking place in Syria, however; the council is unable to take the necessary measures to stop the daily massacres committed by the existing regime. That in turns is sending the wrong message to the unarmed and peaceful citizens of Syria by hindering them from facing the bloody war which is using heavy machinery and weapons. Consequently that message is eliminating the dream of the Syrian people to build a state that respects their dignity and their rights.
I hope that the upcoming painful days that go by wouldn’t result in another meeting with the (UNHRC) where the number of fallen heroes would reach tens of thousands and the same words would be said then. I also hope that the Syrians wouldn’t doubt the credibility of the Human Rights Council, and wouldn’t underline its unsuccessful and failing measures to prevent the massacres committed against them while the world is only watching this miserable reality.
Thank you for your attention….