\nFor Immediate Release\n<\/p>\n
\nUN Security Council: Demand End to Syria Crackdown<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n \nDiscontent on Libya Should Not Deter Action by Emerging \n(New York, June 11, 2011) – United Nations Security Council \n“The Security Council’s complete silence in the face of mass \nDespite the efforts of Syrian authorities to prevent access \nGiven their increasing weight on the international scene and \nTurkey, another emerging power and a neighbor of Syria, has \nContrary to Syrian officials’ attempts to blame the violence \n“States like Brazil, India, and South Africa have a chance \nTo justify their opposition to any Security Council action, \n“Countries bringing the Libya baggage to this debate have to \nHaving made largely empty promises to reform, the Syrian \n“Rather than shirking responsibility by pointing to the work \nFor more Human Rights Watch reporting on Syria, please
\nPowers\n<\/p>\n
\nmembers should support a resolution demanding an immediate end to the Syrian
\ngovernment’s brutal crackdown against largely peaceful demonstrators, Human
\nRights Watch said today. According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner
\nfor Human Rights (OHCHR), “non-governmental organizations and others are now
\nreporting that the number of men, women and children killed since the protests
\nbegan in March has exceeded 1,100, with up to 10,000 or more detained.”\n<\/p>\n
\natrocities against the people of Syria is emboldening the Syrian government in
\nits bloody crackdown,” said Philippe Bolopion, UN director at Human Rights
\nWatch. “A veto by Russia and China to protect the Syrian government and block
\nefforts to stop the killings would be a serious betrayal of Syria’s beleaguered
\ncitizens.”\n<\/p>\n
\nto the country, Human Rights Watch researchers have conducted dozens of
\ninterviews inside Syria and established that Syrian security forces have killed
\nhundreds of protesters and arbitrarily arrested thousands, many of whom,
\nincluding children, have been beaten and tortured. The systematic and
\ndeliberate nature and scale of the government’s abuses in the Daraa
\ngovernorate, where at least 418 people have been killed and many others
\ntortured, including children, suggest that they qualify as crimes against
\nhumanity.\n<\/p>\n
\naspirations to become permanent members of the UN Security Council, Brazil,
\nIndia, and South Africa face a particular responsibility to stand up for the
\nvalues of the UN Charter and send a clear message to the Syrian government that
\nthe UN Security Council does not condone the use of tanks, snipers, and torture
\nto suppress peaceful dissent.\n<\/p>\n
\ncondemned the violence in no uncertain terms. Most recently Turkish Prime
\nMinister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – whose country was on the Security Council in
\n2009 and 2010 – denounced the Syrian government’s violent crackdown as a
\n“barbarity” that is “inhumane” and “cannot be digested,” according to media
\nreports.\n<\/p>\n
\non “terrorist groups” or “armed gangs,” Human Rights Watch’s research indicates
\nthat the protests were overwhelmingly peaceful. Human Rights Watch has
\ndocumented a few instances where civilians used force, including cases of
\ndeadly violence against security forces, which appear to be operating under
\n“shoot-to-kill” orders. While these incidents should be fully investigated,
\nthey can in no way be used to justify the systematic violence the Syrian
\nsecurity forces have unleashed against their own people.\n<\/p>\n
\nto lead by example and demonstrate the values the Security Council should stand
\nfor,” said Bolopion. “Concerns over developments in Libya shouldn’t silence the
\ncouncil. If Brazil, India, and South Africa have misgivings about Libya, they
\nshould use this resolution to get it right by condemning Syria’s actions and
\nencouraging its government to set a different course.”\n<\/p>\n
\nsome countries have expressed concerns about the way NATO is implementing
\nresolution 1973, which authorized the use of force in Libya to protect
\ncivilians.\n<\/p>\n
\nexplain why Syrian victims should suffer the consequences of a NATO military
\nintervention in which they had no say,” said Bolopion. “No one is proposing
\nmilitary action here, and that straw man should not be an excuse for inaction
\non a resolution condemning Syria’s abuses.”\n<\/p>\n
\ngovernment continues to ignore the April 29, 2011 resolution of the UN Human
\nRights Council urging an end to all human rights violations and calling for an
\nassessment mission by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
\n(OHCHR).\n<\/p>\n
\nof the Human Rights Council, the Security Council should put its full weight
\nbehind their efforts to quell the violence, including by demanding access to
\nSyria for the OHCHR mission,” said Bolopion. “President Bashar al-Assad of
\nSyria has responded to gentle calls for reform with more killings and more
\nbrutality. The Security Council should make clear that this conduct is
\nunacceptable.”\n<\/p>\n
\nvisit:\n<\/p>\n