{"id":215,"date":"2011-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"The League of Arab States should not be a platform to support the crimes of the Syrian regime against its people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>April 21, 2011<br \/>\n  <strong><a href=\"File\/Statements\/2011\/04-21-2011SyrianAndArabNGOstatementonArabLeagueSupportOfSyria.pdf\">The League of Arab States should not be a platform to<br \/>\nsupport the crimes of the Syrian regime against its people<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n  Joint press release<\/p>\n<p>\n  The 13 undersigned Arab Human Rights NGOs are deeply  concerned about efforts undertaken by member states of the League of Arab  States to garner support for the Syrian government\u2019s candidacy for one of the  Asian seats in the UN Human Rights Council.<br \/>\n  The undersigned NGOs  believe the Syrian government\u2019s human rights record makes it unworthy of a seat  on the UN rights body, if international standards were applied. but support for  its candidacy at this moment in time is not only an insult to the UN body and its  mission, but shows flagrant disregard for the feelings and rights of the Syrian  people, who have broken the barrier of fear and risen up in revolt in most  Syrian provinces. In the past few weeks, 250 Syrians have lost their lives, and  thousands have been injured and arrested, after daring to demand freedom and  respect for human rights and challenging the brutal system of repression of  Syria\u2019s police state. <\/p>\n<p>\n  It was hoped that the winds of change now blowing across the  Arab region \u2013 which have thus far swept away the regimes in two police states \u2013  would prompt a serious reassessment within Arab League institutions of policies  and practices inimical to human rights, and that the Arab League would cease to  play a key role in the support of authoritarian regimes and repression. The  undersigned NGOs believed that the decisive stance taken by the Arab League and  its Secretary-General on the Libyan regime\u2019s massacre of its own people was a  first step toward support of the rights of peoples. However, it is obvious that  double standards and selectivity continue to characterize the stance and  discourse of the Arab League. This is particularly clear in Bahrain and Yemen,  where it has turned a blind eye and been complicit in the brutal crackdown on  peaceful pro-democracy protests. In the case of Syria, it seems as if the  League of Arab States is rewarding the regime for its repression.<br \/>\n  The undersigned NGOs urge the Secretary-General of the Arab  League to publicly denounce Syria\u2019s candidacy, and to call on Arab states to  refrain from supporting Syria&#8217;s candidacy during the UN General Assembly vote  in May. The undersigned organizations stress that the Egyptian and Tunisian  governments in particular should take action to block this measure. Given the  recent steps these nations have taken to free themselves from oppression, we  urge them to take the initiative and work for the adoption of effective  policies that support and strengthen human rights within Arab League  institutions and promote a coherent Arab stance on human rights issues, both  through the Arab league and UN human rights agencies and bodies.<br \/>\n  1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cairo  Institute for Human Rights Studies <br \/>\n  2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Algerian  League for the Defense of Human Rights<br \/>\n  3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Arab  Foundation for Civil Society and Human Rights Support, Egypt<br \/>\n  4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Arabic  Network for Human Rights Information, Egypt<br \/>\n  5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bahrain  Center for Human Rights<br \/>\n  6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Damascus  Center for Human Rights Studies<br \/>\n  7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Egyptian  Association for Community Participation Enhancement<br \/>\n  8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Egyptian  Initiative for Personal Rights<br \/>\n  9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Haitham  Maleh Foundation for the Defense of Syrian Human Rights Defenders<br \/>\n  10.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Human  Rights First Society, Saudi Arabia<br \/>\n  11.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Iraqi  Human Rights Organization in Denmark<br \/>\n  12.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Journalists  for Human Rights &#8211; JHR , Sudan<br \/>\n  13.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yemeni  Organization for Defending Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><P><br \/><strong><a href=\"File\/Statements\/2011\/04-21-2011SyrianAndArabNGOstatementonArabLeagueSupportOfSyria.pdf\">The League of Arab States should not be a platform to<br \/>\nsupport the crimes of the Syrian regime against its people<\/a><\/strong><\/br><\/P><\/p>\n<p>The 13 undersigned Arab Human Rights NGOs are deeply  concerned about efforts undertaken by member states of the League of Arab  States to garner support for the Syrian government\u2019s candidacy for one of the  Asian seats in the UN Human Rights Council.<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}