{"id":317,"date":"2011-08-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T00:00:00","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=317","title":{"rendered":"Priorities for IBSA delegation to Syria: Human Rights Protection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nPriorities for IBSA delegation to Syria: Human Rights
\nProtection <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\nAntonio Patriota
\nForeign Minister
\nMinistry of External Relations
\nItamaraty Palace
\nEsplanada dos Ministerios, Bloco H
\nCEP 70170-900
\nBrazil <\/p>\n

Shri Ranjan Mathai
\nForeign Secretary
\nMinistry of External Affairs
\nSouth Block
\nNew Delhi 11011
\nIndia <\/p>\n

Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
\nMinister
\nDepartment of International Relations and Cooperation
\nPrivate Bag X152
\nPretoria 0001
\nSouth Africa <\/p>\n

August 4, 2011 <\/p>\n

Dear Excellencies, <\/p>\n

We welcome your governments’ decision to send a joint delegation to Syria. This
\nis an important initiative of the IBSA countries with the potential to help end
\nthe human rights violations against civilians in Syria. Our organizations and
\nmore than 412,000 members of Avaaz, the on-line campaign network, who signed a
\npetition on Syria, are looking to IBSA to send a human rights delegation to
\nSyria immediately to press for an end to the mounting toll of human rights
\nabuses, including deaths, disappearances, torture and unlawful detention. We
\nhope this delegation will fulfill the hopes of these citizens across the world.<\/p>\n

The delegation comes at a critical time. Over 130 people are reported to have
\nbeen killed across Syria since last Friday, 29 July 2011, bringing the total number
\nof reported fatalities since mass protests began in mid-March to over 1,600
\npeople.  Many of them are reported to be protesters and local residents
\nshot by live ammunition from the security forces and the army.   <\/p>\n

Thousands of others have been arrested in the wake of protests, with many being
\nheld incommunicado at unknown locations in conditions that amount to enforced
\ndisappearances and many reported to have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated
\nin custody, in some cases resulting in death. There is growing evidence that
\ncrimes committed amount to crimes against humanity as they appear to be part of
\na widespread, as well as systematic, attack against the civilian population. <\/p>\n

We believe it is essential, now the Security Council has finally spoken, that
\nthe delegation amplifies the message of the Council’s Presidential Statement of
\nAugust 3. Following on that statement, your discussions should of course center
\non urging the Syrian authorities to uphold their responsibility to protect and
\nimmediately cease the use of systematic violence against civilians.  In
\nparticular, you should call on Syria to end the use of lethal violence and
\nother excessive force against peaceful protestors, and respect all human rights
\nand fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of
\nassembly.
\n 
\nWe also ask that you prioritize access to Syria by the Office of the High
\nCommissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) mission. The Security Council statement
\nexplicitly called on Syria to “cooperate fully with the Office of the High
\nCommissioner for Human Rights.” An independent investigation by OHCHR, as
\nmandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council, would constitute a crucial
\nstep in deterring crimes against humanity and establishing accountability for
\nthe violations committed by all parties in Syria. The government of Syria,
\nhowever, has undermined the investigation by refusing the mission access to the
\ncountry. We hope that you will urge the Syrian authorities to cooperate fully
\nwith the OHCHR mission and provide it immediate and unfettered access,
\nespecially to places of detention. It is also vital that you stress the
\nimportance of access for humanitarian missions, foreign journalists and
\nindependent human rights groups. <\/p>\n

In addition, we hope that you will give high priority during your mission to
\nseeking the release of political prisoners. Ending attacks on peaceful
\nprotesters and the release of political prisoners are necessary conditions for
\nSyria’s protesters to regain trust and enable a real dialogue in Syria between
\nthe authorities and protesters. Syrian authorities should be asked to
\nimmediately release all arbitrarily detained persons, and cease any reprisals,
\nintimidation, persecution and arbitrary arrests of individuals, including
\nlawyers, human rights defenders and journalists. <\/p>\n

The achievement of expanded access to Syria, particularly for the OHCHR
\ninvestigation, would be an important tangible success of the IBSA delegation.
\nWe very much hope that the IBSA mechanism will help end the atrocities in
\nSyria, thereby contributing to establishing the effectiveness of efforts by
\nyour countries to uphold international peace and security. <\/p>\n

If we can provide you with any more detailed information ahead of the
\ndelegation please let us know. <\/p>\n

Sincerely <\/p>\n

·        Avaaz
\n·        Amnesty International
\n·        Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
\n·        Human Rights Watch <\/p>\n

For correspondence with the signatories of this letter please contact Crisis
\nAction at andrew.hudson@crisisaction.org<\/a>
\n;
\n+1 646 233 1651<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nPriorities for IBSA delegation to Syria: Human Rights
\nProtection <\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\nDear Excellencies,
\nWe welcome your governments’ decision to send a joint delegation to Syria. This
\nis an important initiative of the IBSA countries with the potential to help end
\nthe human rights violations against civilians in Syria. Our organizations and
\nmore than 412,000 members of Avaaz, the on-line campaign network, who signed a
\npetition on Syria, are looking to IBSA to send a human rights delegation to
\nSyria immediately to press for an end to the mounting toll of human rights
\nabuses, including deaths, disappearances, torture and unlawful detention. We
\nhope this delegation will fulfill the hopes of these citizens across the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317","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\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}