{"id":242,"date":"2011-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T00:00:00","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=242","title":{"rendered":"Syria: Human Rights Council passes resolution on Syria as death toll rises"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nSyria: Human Rights Council passes resolution on Syria as
\ndeath toll rises<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlkarama applauds the UN Human Rights Council for passing
\nresolution S-16\/1, at its special session on Syria on 29 April 2011, formally
\ncondemning the Syrian government for its use of force against peaceful
\npro-democracy protestors. An overwhelming majority of member states voted for
\nthe opening of an OHCHR-led investigation into the human rights abuses in the
\ncountry, including the extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary
\narrests of civilians by Syrian security forces.\n<\/p>\n

\nOvershadowing the special session, however, came newly
\nverified reports of the deaths of a further 219 individuals at the hands of
\nSyrian authorities between 27 and 19 April, which Alkarama communicated to the
\nUN special procedures today. Since 20 March 2011, Alkarama has submitted 472 cases
\nof extrajudicial killings to the UN human rights procedures – the total has now
\nrisen to 691 confirmed deaths.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Human Rights Council has called upon the Syrian
\ngovernment to "immediately put an end to all human rights violations,
\nprotect its population, and respect fully all human rights and fundamental
\nfreedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly; further
\nurges the authorities to allow access to the Internet and telecommunications
\nnetworks and to lift censorship on reporting, including by allowing appropriate
\naccess by foreign journalists."\n<\/p>\n

\nParticipation from Arab member states to the Human Right
\nCouncil was relatively sparse during special session. Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain
\nwere all absent at the time of the vote, while Saudi Arabia and Djibouti both
\nabstained. Perhaps the significant fact is that no Arab member state
\ntechnically voted against the resolution.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe concerning aspect of the current human rights situation
\nin Syria is not only limited to the number of killings carried about by the
\nSyrian authorities, but the sheer volume and variety of human rights
\nviolations, including tarbitrary detentions and persecution of journalists and
\nhuman rights defenders working to report on the current situation. Alkarama has
\nfor example documented at least 1200 arrests since protests began in mid-March
\n2011.\n<\/p>\n

\nAs the situation becomes dangerously violative, Alkarama is
\nnow receiving reports that Syria hospitals and ambulances are being targeted by
\nSyrian security agents. Many of the doctors have resorted to using veterinarian
\noffices and make-shift surgery rooms to treat injured patients.\n<\/p>\n

\nDespite international condemnation, the Syrian government
\nhas done very little to resolve the deteriorating human rights situation
\nplaguing its cities. While some thought that the violence and suppression would
\nsubsist when Syria approved a bill to rescind the country’s decades-old
\nEmergency Law on 19 April 2011, the security services responded by targeting a
\nfuneral procession with lethal force, killing at least six, before attacking
\npeaceful demonstrators in the capital Damascus, killing at least 100.\n<\/p>\n

\nIn the light of the widespread pattern of human rights
\nabuses in Syria, Alkarama calls on the Syrian government to respect the
\nmeasures indicated in the Human Rights Council’s Resolution S-16\/1 and
\nimmediately refrain from using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators,
\nrelease all prisoners of conscience and peaceful protestors, and cooperate
\nfully with the mission to be dispatched by the Office of the High Commissioner
\nfor Human Rights to investigate allegations of human rights violations.\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nSyria: Human Rights Council passes resolution on Syria as
\ndeath toll rises<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nAlkarama applauds the UN Human Rights Council for passing
\nresolution S-16\/1, at its special session on Syria on 29 April 2011, formally
\ncondemning the Syrian government for its use of force against peaceful
\npro-democracy protestors. An overwhelming majority of member states voted for
\nthe opening of an OHCHR-led investigation into the human rights abuses in the
\ncountry, including the extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and arbitrary
\narrests of civilians by Syrian security forces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}