{"id":248,"date":"2011-05-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-07T00:00:00","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=248","title":{"rendered":"UN- Reject Syria\u2019s Human Rights Council Candidacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nUN- Reject Syria’s Human Rights Council Candidacy <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nCountry Under Investigation by Rights Body Not Fit to Join\n<\/p>\n

\n (New York, May 6, 2011) – The UN General Assembly
\nshould strongly reject Syria’s candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council, Human
\nRights Watch said today. Syria’s attempt to join the council in the midst of
\nits brutal crackdown on largely peaceful protests is a travesty, Human Rights
\nWatch said.\n<\/p>\n

\n The council “unequivocally condemned” the use of
\nlethal violence against peaceful protesters by the Syrian authorities, and
\nasked the office of the UN high commissioner for human rights to investigate
\nongoing human rights violations by Syria on April 29, 2011.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It’s outrageous that Syria can be condemned by the
\nHuman Rights Council one month and be an endorsed candidate in elections for
\nthat same body the next month,” said Peggy Hicks, global advocacy director at
\nHuman Rights Watch. “Every day that passes calls further into question the
\ncredibility of those who have supported Syria’s candidacy.”\n<\/p>\n

\n The UN General Assembly will elect new members to the
\nHuman Rights Council on May 20. Under the council’s founding resolution, states
\nelected to join its membership are expected to “uphold the highest standards”
\nof human rights. There are four declared candidates for the four vacant seats
\nreserved for the Asian group of UN member states in the upcoming election:
\nSyria, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The Asian group endorsed this
\nslate of candidates, including Syria, on January 21, before the current crackdown
\nbegan.\n<\/p>\n

\n Human rights groups from across the Middle East, Asia,
\nand the world have come together to oppose Syria’s candidacy. On April 5, a
\ncoalition of 17 civil society groups, largely from Asia and the Middle East, called<\/a> on the Asian Group to urge Syria to withdraw, and
\nfor the group to open the Asian slate to new candidates if Syria was unwilling
\nto do so. On April 21, 19 human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)
\nfrom Syria and other Arab countries wrote<\/a>
\nto urge all UN members – and Asian group members in particular – to call upon
\nSyria to withdraw its candidacy and to ensure that Syria does not win election
\nto the council on May 20. Also on April 21, 13 Syrian and Arab NGOs criticized<\/a> the League of Arab States for continuing to
\nsupport Syria’s candidacy for the council. In a letter<\/a>
\nissued in Banjul on April 28, 43 human rights organizations from all parts of
\nAfrica called upon African governments to withhold their votes from Syria’s
\ncandidacy for a seat on the rights council.\n<\/p>\n

\n “Human rights defenders in the Middle East, Asia, and
\nAfrica unequivocally have urged states to say no to Syria,” Hicks said. “Given
\nthe almost universal disdain for Syria’s candidacy, the question remains why
\nthe Asian group continues to back Syria and to shut the door to other
\ncandidates.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Human Rights Watch has reported that Syrian security
\nforces have responded to largely peaceful protests with lethal force, including
\nlive ammunition fired from military assault weapons. The death toll is at least
\n500, according to Syrian human rights groups. Christof Heyns, the UN special
\nrapporteur on extrajudicial executions, has stressed that “live ammunition is
\nbeing used in clear violation of international law.”
\nThe violence has escalated in the past two weeks, with more than 100 protesters
\nkilled on April 22 and 23 alone, according to Human Rights Watch. The Syrian
\narmy has imposed a siege on the town of Daraa since April 25, cutting electricity,
\nphone lines, and internet, and preventing any movement to and from the city.
\nThe authorities have prevented medical personnel in at least two towns from
\ntending to wounded protesters, and denied injured people access to hospitals.
\nThe security services also have arbitrarily detained several thousand
\nprotesters, many of whom they have beaten and tortured. They also have
\narbitrarily arrested and tortured activists, writers, and journalists who have
\nreported on or expressed support for the anti-government protests.\n<\/p>\n

\nOn March 1, the UN General Assembly voted to suspend Libya’s
\nmembership rights in the UN Human Rights Council, as brutal repression of civil
\nprotests had killed at least 500 people.\n<\/p>\n

\n“It would make a mockery of the UN General Assembly to go from
\nunanimously suspending Libya in March to electing Syria this month, when their
\nrecords of violent suppression of demonstrators are so similar,” Hicks said.
\n“Syria’s candidacy is an affront to all those facing its brutal repression, and
\nto human rights supporters everywhere, and should be decisively
\nrejected.” \n<\/p>\n

\nFor more Human Rights Watch reporting on Syria, please
\nvisit: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/en\/middle-east\/n-africa<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nUN- Reject Syria’s Human Rights Council Candidacy <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nCountry Under Investigation by Rights Body Not Fit to Join\n<\/p>\n

\n (New York, May 6, 2011) – The UN General Assembly
\nshould strongly reject Syria’s candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council, Human
\nRights Watch said today. Syria’s attempt to join the council in the midst of
\nits brutal crackdown on largely peaceful protests is a travesty, Human Rights
\nWatch said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}