{"id":232,"date":"2011-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T00:00:00","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=232","title":{"rendered":"International crimes are being perpetrated by the Syrian authorities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nInternational crimes are being perpetrated by the Syrian
\nauthorities<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n16th Special Session of the Human Rights Council “on the
\nsituation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Intervention of Radwan
\nZiadeh  <\/span>Damascus Center for Human Rights
\nStudies.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nDear Respected Ambassadors and Representatives,\n<\/p>\n

\nWhile I am speaking to you here in Geneva as a Syrian first,
\nand as a human rights activist second, my fellow Syrians are demonstrating in
\nmost of the cities across the country, and this despite the use of live
\nammunition against them which has led to the death of more than 700 citizens,
\nhundreds of missing and wounded, and thousands of detainees under the risk of
\ntorture. And yet they are still peacefully protesting against one of the most
\nrepressive regimes in the region, but at the same time they are looking to us
\nhere, at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), and hoping that the international
\ncommunity will help them in their peaceful and legitimate struggle. They are
\nfully aware that the council cannot return the lives of their fallen loved-ones
\nbut at least can put an end to the use of force and violence by the Security
\nservices, who are immune from accountability according to Syrian law.\n<\/p>\n

\nLadies and Gentleman\n<\/p>\n

\nI will not read here the hundreds of messages and emails I
\nreceived yesterday from the people inside Syria when they knew that I would
\naddress your respected council, but I will read an excerpt from one “if the
\ncouncil doesn’t support the idea of an international inquiry our blood will be
\nforgotten again”, 30 years after the Asad regime committed the Hama massacre in
\n1982 we are still talking about the estimated number of people killed there (
\nsome say 20000, others say 25000) after thirty years we still talk about
\n“estimates” not “exact” numbers, because the regime didn`t take even a single
\nstep to open an investigation, how can we trust or believe now that this regime
\nwill open even an internal credible investigation into the killing of peaceful
\nprotesters since March 18, 2011. The International Community should now take
\nthe responsibility for the Syrian victims who died for requesting their freedom
\nback, Freedom is the most pronounced word in Syria today but it is also the
\nmost dangerous one, it cost the lives of more than 700 people, 650 of whom were
\nless than 40 years old.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Syrian troops have been besieging Daraa for almost five
\ndays. Access to food, water and medical assistance are strictly prevented.
\nElectricity, means of communication and roads to the city are cut. These
\npractices amount to collective punishment and constitute a serious threat for
\nthe population which is facing a humanitarian crisis. The official
\njustification of fighting extremists is a dangerous lure. And even if this were
\nthe case the government shouldn’t stop food and medical supplies from entering
\nthe city thus punishing the whole population of Daraa. Yesterday the son of
\nmember of the Syrian Parliament was crying while he was talking to the B.B.C,
\nhe added “ we only need children`s milk”. It has become obvious that
\ninternational crimes are being perpetrated by the Syrian authorities and the
\nInternational community urgently needs to wake up to this and act. The gap
\nbetween the official stance claiming the adoption of long awaited reforms
\nincluding the lift of the state of emergency and the issuing of a law on
\npeaceful demonstrations, and the systematic and violent repression on the
\nground, is more blatant than ever. The Council must strongly condemn the gross
\nand systematic violation of human rights by the Syrian authorities and urge
\nthem to put an immediate end to the violence. An independent international
\ncommission of inquiry must also be urgently set up in order to investigate all
\nalleged violations of international human rights law and identify the alleged
\nperpetrators. Those responsible should be brought to justice. This is the only
\nway to enable the Syrian people to believe that here is an international
\ninstitution set up and able to protect their Human Rights.\n<\/p>\n

\nFinally, violent crackdown against protesters by the army
\nand security forces is not a Syrian exception. Bahrain and Yemen are also the
\nscene of fierce repressions. However Bahraini and Yemeni victims are still
\nwaiting for the consideration of the International Community and the UN Human
\nRights council in particular. A selective approach cannot be a sustainable
\nsolution in any case.\n<\/p>\n

\nRadwan Ziadeh\n<\/p>\n

\nDamascus Center for Human Rights Studies\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.fidh.org\/International-crimes-are-being-perpetrated-by-the<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nInternational crimes are being perpetrated by the Syrian
\nauthorities<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n16th Special Session of the Human Rights Council “on the
\nsituation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Intervention of Radwan
\nZiadeh  <\/span>Damascus Center for Human Rights
\nStudies.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}