II. Assessing the Monitoring Mission<\/u><\/em><\/strong>
\n The Mission’s credibility has been clouded by a number of factors including its lack of transparency. The criteria for selecting Arab League monitors have not been communicated nor has any information been made available regarding their relevant experience in monitoring, leading to serious concerns about their expertise. The Mission’s interim report presented on January 8 has not been made public and the Arab League has not shared information about the Mission’s methodology and composition.<\/p>\nThe appointment of Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi, a former head of Sudan’s military intelligence, an intelligence agency well known for serious abuses in Sudan, as its chief has also called the Mission’s credibility into question.<\/p>\n
Further, the Mission has relied on the Syrian government for security and to transport monitors around the country, compromising the Mission’s independence and ability to access victims and witnesses without putting them in danger. <\/p>\n
Our research suggests that the Syrian government has taken a number of steps to interfere with the work of the Mission. For example, Human Rights Watch has documented what seem to be efforts by the Syrian government to deceive the Arab League monitors by transferring hundreds of detainees to improvised holding centers at military sites that are off limits to Arab League observers. Authorities have also issued police identification cards to military officials apparently in order to give the impression that military forces have, under the agreement with the Arab League, withdrawn from civilian areas. Syria also appears to be violating its pledge under the agreement to protect people who communicate with the monitors from reprisal. For example, a resident of the Mo`adamiyeh neighborhood in Damascus told Human Rights Watch on January 3 that after she and her friend spoke to Arab League monitors on January 1, security forces detained her friend on January 2.<\/p>\n
In light of these findings, we urge the Arab League to publicly release the Mission’s final report and to specifically report on whether the Syrian government is complying with the protocol and whether and how the Syrian government is interfering with the work of the Mission. The Arab League should determine whether its monitors have been able to independently and effectively monitor Syria’s compliance with the Arab League plan, and this determination should be transparent for it to be credible.<\/p>\n
If the monitors have not been able to operate independently and effectively, and the League cannot guarantee their effectiveness, then it should consider whether its monitoring mission can serve a useful purpose.<\/p>\n
If the Mission is to continue, we urge the Arab League to request that the UN Security Council call on the Syrian government to cooperate with the Mission. Regardless of whether the monitoring mission continues, as long as the human rights violations continue, the Arab League should work with the Security Council to (i) impose an arms embargo on Syria, (ii) impose sanctions against the individuals responsible for grave violations, (iii) demand unhindered access for humanitarian missions, foreign journalists, and independent human rights organizations, (iv) call on the Syrian government to cooperate with the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in establishing a human rights monitoring presence in Syria, and (v) refer Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).<\/p>\n
We respectfully submit these findings and recommendations to the Arab League Ministers in the hopes of assisting in the important work of your monitoring mission. I look forward to discussing these matters with you in the near future.<\/p>\n
With highest regards,
\n Kenneth Roth
\n Executive Director
\n Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nJanuary 20, 2012\n<\/p>\n
\nDear Secretary-General,\n<\/p>\n
\n We write to you in advance of this week’s meeting of the Arab Foreign Ministers Council on January 22 where Ministers will be reviewing the report of the Arab League monitoring mission to Syria and assessing the League’s next steps to put an end to the crisis in Syria.<\/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-444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444","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=444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dchrs.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}