{"id":318,"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=318","title":{"rendered":"“Syria must stop using violent strategies against civilians, now”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n5 August
\n2011
\n"Syria must stop using violent strategies against civilians, now<\/strong>"<\/p>\n

GENEVA – A group of UN human rights experts* today warned that the scale and
\ngravity of the violent crackdown in the Syrian Arab Republic continues
\nunabated, and reiterated their call for an immediate end to the violent
\nstrategies adopted by the Government to quash the on-going demonstrations. <\/p>\n

“We continue to receive reports on systematic use of excessive force resulting
\nin killings and injuries; allegations of torture, enforced disappearances,
\narbitrary arrests and detention of protestors; targeting of human rights
\ndefenders; and unjustified limitations on freedoms of peaceful assembly and
\nexpression,” the independent experts said. <\/p>\n

Arbitrary executions:<\/strong>
\n“The indiscriminate use of heavy artillery against demonstrators cannot be
\njustified; no State is allowed to use its military force against an unarmed
\ncivilian population regardless of the situation prevailing on the ground,” said
\nthe UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions,
\nChristof Heyns. “The killings that result are clearly arbitrary executions and
\npunishable under international law.” <\/p>\n

Torture:<\/strong>
\n“Syria has disregarded, and continues to, every international norm against
\ntorture and ill-treatment,” said the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan
\nMéndez. “Its leaders must cease such acts immediately and take note that they
\nwill be held accountable for their action.” <\/p>\n

Enforced disappearances:<\/strong>
\n“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify enforced
\ndisappearances,” said Jeremy Sarkin, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on
\nEnforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Expressing concern about several
\nreports of people being subjected to enforced disappearance, he stressed that
\n“no State shall practice, permit or tolerate enforced disappearances.” <\/p>\n

Arbitrary detention:<\/strong>
\n“Syrian authorities should release all those arbitrarily arrested for taking
\npart in peaceful demonstrations or expressing different views” stated El Hadji
\nMalick Sow, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention <\/p>\n

Freedom of assembly:<\/strong>
\n“Freedom of peaceful assembly is core to any democratic society, and it is of
\nutmost importance that the Government finally addresses the legitimate concerns
\nof peaceful protestors, instead of silencing their voices with brute force,”
\nrecalled the newly appointed the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of
\npeaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai. <\/p>\n

Freedom of opinion and expression:<\/strong>
\n“I am deeply concerned by the Government’s continued attempts to prevent the
\nworld from knowing the extent of atrocities unfolding on the ground by refusing
\naccess to foreign journalists, in violation of the right of all individuals to
\nseek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds,” said the Special
\nRapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue. <\/p>\n

Human Rights defenders:<\/strong>
\nThe Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human rights defenders, Margaret
\nSekaggya, also urged the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic “to release the
\nhuman rights defenders who are still detained as a result of their activities
\nof promoting human rights, democratic reforms and national reconciliation.” Ms.
\nSekaggya added that "full access to the country should be granted to
\nindependent human rights organisations as well as to the fact-finding mission
\nmandated by the Human Rights Council". <\/p>\n

Impunity<\/strong>:
\n <\/strong>“The Government of Syria cannot be allowed to violate with
\nimpunity its obligation to uphold international law nor attack the very
\ncitizens it has sworn to protect without consequences,” stressed the UN
\nindependent experts. “We unequivocally call on the Government of Syria to
\nimmediately cease the violent crackdown, stop the killings and pursue dialogue
\nthrough peaceful processes.” <\/p>\n

ENDS <\/p>\n

(*) <\/strong> Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
\nexecutions, Christof Heyns; Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
\ninhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez; Special Rapporteur
\non the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and
\nexpression, Frank La Rue; Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human rights
\ndefenders, Ms. Margaret Sekaggya; Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on
\nEnforced or Involuntary Disappearances, Jeremy Sarkin; Chair-Rapporteur of the
\nWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mr. El Hadji Malick Sow; and Special
\nRapportuer on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Mr.
\nMaina Kiai.<\/em> <\/p>\n

“UN experts call on Syria to urgently end crackdown and implement reforms:” <\/span>http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=10941&LangID=E<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

OHCHR Country Page – Syrian Arab Republic: <\/span>http:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/countries\/MENARegion\/Pages\/SYIndex.aspx<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

For more information and media requests<\/strong>, please contact: Ms. Pasipau
\nWadonda-Chirwa (Tel: +41 22 917 9252 \/ email: <\/span>pwadonda-chirwa@ohchr.org<\/span><\/a>) or write to <\/span>eje@ohchr.org<\/span><\/a> <\/p>\n

UN Human Rights, follow us on social media: <\/strong>
\n<\/span>http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/unitednationshumanrights<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/span>https:\/\/twitter.com\/unrightswire<\/span><\/a> <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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

\nGENEVA – A group of UN human rights experts* today warned that the scale and
\ngravity of the violent crackdown in the Syrian Arab Republic continues
\nunabated, and reiterated their call for an immediate end to the violent
\nstrategies adopted by the Government to quash the on-going demonstrations.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","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\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}