Syrian Freedom

OIC suspension of #Syria sparks renewed call to expel Assad from U.N. human rights committee

16/08/12

Rights group: “Syria’s membership is a lingering stainupon the reputation of the U.N. as a whole”

GENEVA, Aug. 16 – Yesterday’s suspension of Syria from the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation creates a new window of opportunity for a top U.N. human rights committee to cancel its “shameful” November election of the Bashar al-Assad regime, said UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights organization which heads a campaign of 55 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling for Syria’s expulsion.

“Now that both the OIC and the Arab League have suspended Syria, there is no longer any excuse — neither morally or politically — for UNESCO to insist on keeping Bashar al-Assad’s regime on its human rights committee, which is mandated to help victims worldwide. It’s time for UNESCO to stop legitimizing a government that mercilessly murders its own people,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“Having Syria as a global judge of human rights is like appointing a pyromaniac to be a firefighter,” said Neuer. “UNESCO is allowing the Assad regime to strut in Paris as a U.N. human rights arbiter — it’s immoral, indefensible and an insult to Syria’s victims.”

After UNESCO elected Syria to its human rights committee in November, UN Watch launched a campaign to reverse the decision, prompting the US and Britain to initiate a March debate at UNESCO.

However, while a resolution was adopted censuring Syria’s violations — a welcome first for UNESCO — the promised call to oust the regime from UNESCO’s human rights panel was excised. U.S. ambassador David Killion urged UNESCO to revisit the decision. The watered-down text included language suggesting UNESCO chief Irina Bokova could raise the issue again. (See links at bottom.)

Earlier this year, UN Watch had received notice from the British Foreign Office that it would seek to cancel Syria’s “abhorrent” membership. In an email to UN Watch, the UK said it “deplores the continuing membership of Syria on this committee and does not believe that Syria’s presence is conducive to the work of the body or UNESCO’s reputation. We have therefore joined with other countries in putting forward an item for the first meeting of the Executive Board at which we will seek to explicitly address Syria’s membership of the body.”

The UK also expressed hope that other members of the executive board will join London in ending what it called “this abhorrent [and] anomalous situation.”

Paris insiders say that UNESCO diplomats from non-democratic regimes are afraid to create a precedent of ousting repressive governments.

“However, now that both the OIC and the Arab League have suspended Syria, we must take advantage of the new political momentum. It’s time for the U.S. and Britain to uphold their pledge and demand Syria’s expulsion,” said Neuer.

“The Assad regime’s ongoing membership calls into question the credibility of UNESCO’s mission to promote human rights, and Syria’s membership is a lingering stain upon the reputation of the UN as a whole. By maintaining Assad in a position of global influence on human rights, UNESCO is sending absolutely the wrong message. It an unconscionable insult to the suffering people of Syria.”

Timeline: The UN Watch Campaign to Expel Syria from UNESCO

Nov. 11 - By a consensus decision, UNESCO’s 58-member executive board, including major democracies, elects Syria to two human rights committees, ratifying the Arab group’s nomination.

Nov. 23 - UN Watch launches campaign urging democracies to reverse Syria’s election after story is first reported in the U.S. by FoxNews.com. UN Watch obtains a renunciation by UNESCO director Irina Bokova of of the Assad regime’s election. UN Watch’s protest is reported by CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Fox News, and the Tribune de Genève.

Dec. 2 - In testimony before the UN Human Rights Council plenary, UN Watch formally calls on UNESCO to “cancel its recent decision to elect Syria to two separate committees that deal with human rights. Even the head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, concedes that this is wrong. Her spokesperson told UN Watch: ‘Given the developments in Syria, the director-general does not see how this country can contribute to the work of the committees.’ ” UN Watch submits the UNHRC condemnation of Syria to UNESCO, requesting Syria be expelled forthwith.
Dec. 15 - UN Watch launches campaign of of 55 parliamentarians, human rights groups and religious groups calling on UNESCO to reverse the election of Syria, and sends appeal to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and UK Foreign Minister William Hague.

Jan. 6 - UN Watch receives notice from the British Foreign Office that it will seek to cancel Syria’s “abhorrent” membership. In an email to UN Watch, the UK said it “deplores the continuing membership of Syria on this committee and does not believe that Syria’s presence is conducive to the work of the body or UNESCO’s reputation. We have therefore joined with other countries in putting forward an item for the first meeting of the Executive Board at which we will seek to explicitly address Syria’s membership of the body.” The UK also expressed hope that other members of the executive board will join London in ending what it called “this abhorrent [and] anomalous situation.” Al Arabiya, Fox News and the Jerusalem Post report the story.

Jan. 25 - UN Watch reveals an exclusive copy of the motion, memo and member states seeking to condemn and expel Syria. The story is reported by the New York Times, AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg News, and covered in The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Le Figaro, and many other newspapers.

March 8 “Despite vigorous efforts led by the U.S. and Britain, UNESCO’s board votes 35-8 to reject move to expel Syria, but under pressure agrees for the first time to censure the Assad regime. Click for resolution. The text “Invite[d] the Director General to report on the implementation of the present decision and on the consequences of the current situation concerning UNESCO’s activities and tasks,” which the U.S. appeared to cite as evidence that the membership issue would be revisited.

March 8 “Statement by U.S. Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Ambassador David Killion:

“The United States is profoundly disappointed that this resolution does not call for the outright removal of Syria from the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations – something for which we have repeatedly called for. We agree with Director-General Bokova that, given the actions of the Assad regime, it is not clear how Syria can contribute to the work of the committee. We hope that UNESCO will revisit Syria’s membership following the UNESCO’s Director General’s report on Syria…. We look forward to further action by this committee to address Syria’s membership on the Committee on Conventions and Recommendations.”

Latest #Syria developments

17:51 Sixty dead bodies were found in the city of Qatna near Damascus, Al-Arabiya television quoted activists saying.

17:30 Syrian General Yuaarab al-Sharaa, cousin of Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa, has defected, New TV reported Thursday.

17:06 Thursday’s death toll in Syria has risen to 90 people, Al-Jazeera television quoted activists as saying.

16:30 Syrian regime forces’ warplanes shelled Maarat Masrin in Edleb, razing its houses to the ground, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.

16:06 Dozens of casualties were reported in Al-Damir in the Damascus district, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.

14:50 Syrian forces killed 35 people in Aleppo’s Qadi Aaskar, Al-Arabiya quoted the Syrian National Council as saying.

14:28 China urged Syria envoy Buthaina Shaaban to implement ceasefire and accept mediation, AFP quoted a statement as saying.

14:07 Three people were killed in the shelling of the neighborhood of Al-Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus by regime forces, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.

13:09 Free Syrian Army rebels clashed with regime forces in Damascus’ Al-Hajar al-Aswad, Al-Jazeera quoted activists as saying.

12:51 Iran on Thursday slammed a decision by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to suspend Syria’s membership, calling the step against its key ally “unfair and unjust.”

12:15 Syrian security forces killed 62 people on Thursday, Al-Arabiya quoted the Local Coordination Committees as saying.

10:59 UN aid chief Valerie Amos said Thursday she was still pushing Damascus to allow international aid organizations to operate in Syria, warning that more than one million Syrians faced “destitution.”

10:24 Syrian security forces’ shelling of Aleppo’s Qadi Aaskar killed 25 people, Al-Arabiya quoted activists as saying.

10:16 About 15 Syrians have died in Turkish hospitals of their wounds from an air strike after 100 were sent across the border for treatment following the attack, a Turkish official said Thursday.

8:20 A Syrian envoy in Beijing for talks with Chinese officials has praised her host’s attitude to her country, contrasting it with that of Western powers, in comments published Thursday.

8:13 The United States commended Muslim states for suspending Syria’s membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, saying it sent a “strong message” to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Why has the Saudi king invited Ahmadinejad to the #Syria summit?

08/08/12

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been invited by the Saudi king to attend a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Photograph: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images

The visit of the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to Saudi Arabia comes at a crucial time for the conflict in Syria. Few observers can be optimistic about the chances for diplomacy, with the Annan plan abandoned and the quieter efforts at reaching a US-Russia deal stalled.

Most analysts predict that Syria’s uprising against dictatorship – which began as a peaceful cross-sectarian movement calling for basic freedoms – will increasingly mutate into a sectarian civil war. Much of the western policy debate is moving on to the risks of prolonged state failure in a post-Assad future.

Within the Arab world, the debate over Syria is increasingly becoming polarised along ideological and sectarian lines, as the country’s strategic importance to the region’s great powers seems to be obscuring the commonalities between the basic demands of the Syrian protesters and their counterparts in other Arab countries. Any efforts to draw back from the brink – and to stop the Syrian uprising against dictatorship being derailed by a sectarian regional proxy war – deserve attention.

Ahmadinejad’s visit, which an aide has said will go ahead, is a rare one. He last visited Saudi Arabia in 2007, at a time when the Gulf states were trying so hard to reach out to Iran that Qatar even invited him to join in the annual summit of the Gulf Co-operation Council (the regional organisation representing the six Gulf Arab monarchies, which was founded in 1981 partly in response to the perceived threat of the Iranian revolution).

Although there is a long history of rivalry and competition between the Gulf Arab countries and Iran, relations have not always been so conflicted. Back in 2008, Ahmadinejad visited Bahrain and signed an agreement for Iran to supply Bahrain with natural gas. The deal, which seems almost unthinkable today, never materialised.

By contrast, Ahmadinejad’s most recent foray to the other side of the Gulf was in April, when he toured Abu Musa, an island occupied by Iran but claimed by the UAE. This prompted fury in the Gulf monarchies, where rulers saw it as a sign of Iranian expansionist tendencies, and were frustrated by the lack of reaction from their western allies (who were preparing for talks with Iran over the nuclear issue and who are not deeply engaged on the islands issue).

It is in Syria that the Saudi-Iranian confrontation has become the most pronounced and dangerous, but the two are competing for influence in the wider region. They back rival camps in Iraq, Lebanon, and to some extent Yemen and the Palestinian territories (though Hamas has always had some support in the Gulf and is now distancing itself from both Iran and Syria). They are also at odds over the treatment of Shia protesters in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s own eastern province. Saudi officials routinely suggest that Iran is fomenting the protests in both cases.

For its part, Iran’s interests seem to be best served by giving only moral support to the protesters, so it can sit back and watch its rivals challenged from within, without the kind of direct involvement that could spark retaliation.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are effective exploiters of “soft power”, making use of their various media channels and religious networks to try to discredit the other.

One of the disadvantages of this approach is that it is never quite clear how centralised the control of foreign policy really is. Another problem is that the Middle Eastern media are becoming increasingly sectarian – a trend that is worrying many people in the ethnically and religiously diverse countries of the Gulf.

Now, with the collapse of Kofi Annan’s mission to Syria, the Gulf Arab monarchies are becoming more open about their support for the Syrian opposition, including the armed Free Syrian Army. Saudi Arabia has hosted a variety of Syrian opposition visitors, from members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to Assad’s estranged uncle, Rifaat al-Assad and Manaf Tlass, a senior Syrian military officer who defected just a few weeks ago.

The latter visitors illustrate that Saudi Arabia is not only supporting the Islamist opposition; it has its own concerns about the rising regional influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose focus on electoral politics represents a major challenge to the Saudi model of partnership between clerics and hereditary rulers.

The UAE is also pursuing a delicate balancing act, as it is home to a number of Syrian National Council activists – who recently announced the defection of the Syrian ambassador to the UAE – but is extremely wary of the role the Muslim Brotherhood could play in its own territory, and is investigating around 50 imprisoned Islamist political activists who are accused of conspiring with foreign organisations.

Even before the Annan mission collapsed, the Saudi and UAE foreign ministers were expressing extreme frustration with what they see as international inaction over Syria. Saudi Arabia has never seemed particularly convinced by western diplomatic efforts; Kofi Annan did not visit Riyadh during his Syria mediation efforts, and neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran was included in the last “Friends of Syria” meeting.

Most indications point to further conflict rather than a diplomatic resolution. But in the highly personalised realm of Saudi politics, a personal invitation from the king is symbolically important.

In Lebanon, in 2008 and 2009, the confrontation between the Saudi-backed 14 March alliance and the Iranian-backed 8 March alliance occasionally looked like it could lead to renewed civil conflict. But there, the rival factions stepped back from the brink, negotiating power-sharing agreements before and after the 2009 elections.

This would be far harder to achieve in Syria, with its daily bloodshed and its asymmetry of forces, but the cost of conflict is high enough for any remaining diplomatic options to be worth exploring.

US warns #Syria it can’t deceive world over pullout

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press – 1 hour ago

BEIRUT (AP) — The U.S. warned Syria it won’t be able to deceive the world about compliance with a cease-fire that is just days away, as regime forces pounded more opposition strongholds Saturday in an apparent rush to crush resistance before troops must withdraw. Activists said more than 100 people were killed, including at least 87 civilians.

Almost half died in a Syrian army raid on the central village of al-Latamneh, activists said. Amateur video from the village showed the body of a baby with bloodied clothes and an apparent bullet wound in the chest. On another video, a barrage of shells is heard hitting a neighborhood of Homs as the restive city’s skyline is engulfed in white smoke.

Syrian President Bashar Assad last week accepted a cease-fire agreement brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan calling for government forces to withdraw from towns and villages by Tuesday, and for the regime and rebels to lay down their arms by 6 a.m. Thursday. The truce is meant to pave the way for negotiations between the government and the opposition over Syria’s political future.

However, Western leaders are skeptical about Assad’s intentions because of broken promises of the past and the recent escalation in attacks on opposition strongholds, including arrest sweeps and shelling of civilian areas. The U.S. ambassador to Syria posted online satellite images late Friday that he said cast doubt on the regime’s readiness to pull out.

“This is not the reduction in offensive Syrian government security operations that all agree must be the first step for the Annan initiative to succeed,” Ambassador Robert Ford wrote on the embassy’s Facebook page.

Ford posted photos he said show the government has pulled back some forces, but kept others in place or simply shifted around troops and armored vehicles. Earlier this week, the government claimed it had withdrawn from several areas.

“The regime and the Syrian people should know that we are watching,” Ford wrote, citing satellite surveillance. “The regime cannot hide the truth.”

The ambassador, who left Syria in February amid security concerns, said the Syrian government must give U.N. monitors access to confirm its compliance with the cease-fire. A U.N. advance team arrived in Damascus earlier this week; Annan’s spokesman has said the U.N.-Arab league envoy hopes to put together a team of 200 to 250 observers.

Syria says the details of the mission have not been worked out.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, expressed alarm about escalating violence, saying Tuesday’s deadline for a troop pullback “is not an excuse for continued killing.” On Friday, he urged the regime to cease all military action immediately and unconditionally.

In Saudi Arabia, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation said Saturday that it believes some 1 million of Syria’s 23 million residents need humanitarian assistance. The OIS, which considers itself the voice of the Islamic world with 57 Muslim majority member states, said it would provide $70 million in aid, including food and medical supplies. It has already sent nine trucks with relief to the areas most in need.

The group sent representatives to Syria, a member country, in late March and said it was willing to work closely with authorities there.

The international community has been deadlocked over how to end the violence in Syria. Assad allies Russia and China blocked resolutions condemning Syria. The West, in turn, opposes military intervention or arming the opposition fighters. Russia, increasingly critical of the Syrian regime, supports Annan’s plan, but it’s not clear if that’s enough to make a truce stick.

Street protests against Assad erupted 13 months ago, inspired by the Arab Spring’s pro-democracy uprisings in the region, but eventually turned violent under a brutal regime crackdown. More than 9,000 people have been killed since then, the U.N. says.

Ill-equipped, poorly funded civilians-turned-fighters and army defectors have been no match for the regime, backed by a loyal army. On Friday, in a typical street battle, fighters in ski masks took cover behind walls and tried to spot army snipers in a Damascus suburb.

The capital itself has been relatively calm, and on Saturday, thousands attended a rally marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of Syria’s ruling Baath party. A large poster of Assad hung from a facade facing a city square and supporters waved Syrian flags.

Saturday’s deadliest fighting was reported in al-Latamneh in the central Hama province. Regime troops stormed the village after shelling it, killing at least 40 people, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Amateur video posted by activists showed al-Latamneh residents crying “Allahu Akbar” as they held up the body of the dead baby. Another video showed the bodies of several men covered in white sheets lined up on the ground.

In the nearby province of Homs, activists reported shelling of the city as well as the rebel-held areas of Rastan, Deir Baalabeh and Qusair.

In all, at least 87 civilians and 16 opposition fighters were killed Saturday, the group said, while 13 unidentified bodies were found in the Deir Baalabeh neighborhood of Homs and 10 in Hreitan, in the northern province of Idlib. The Observatory said two dozen Syrian troops were also killed.

The grassroots Local Coordination Committees put the day’s death toll on the opposition side at 121, including 59 in the Hama area.

The Syrian government restricts access of foreign journalists, and the activists’ accounts could not be independently verified.

Syrian officials said troops arrested large numbers of gunmen and killed “some others” in the Damascus suburbs and in the center of the country. The government said it seized large amounts of weapons and ammunition Saturday. The regime claims the revolt is a foreign-led conspiracy, rejecting its portrayal as a popular uprising.

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut and Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed reporting.

World powers lean on #Syria amid unrest

(CNN) — World pressure on the Syrian regime escalated Wednesday as Turkey announced tough economic sanctions and a leading U.N. body announced a Friday meeting on the human rights situation.

In Saudi Arabia, the Organization of Islamic Conference, a worldwide alliance of Muslim nations, met on Wednesday to discuss the bloodshed in Syria, whose government has been widely condemned for its fierce crackdown against protesters.

“Collective punishment methods, besieging cities, bombing mosques, using excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators and killing tens of people every day pointing weapons to their own people with army units following armed gangs such as shabiha are the manifestations of the Syrian administration’s lack of understanding of legitimacy,” said Turkish Foreign Minister AhmetDavutoglu, who announced a series of sanctions against Syria.

Turkey plans to stop selling and providing weaponry to the Syrian army. It also will prevent the transfer of munitions from third countries to Syria via Turkey, Davutoglu said.

The government is halting transactions with Syria’s Central Bank and freezing Syrian government financial possessions in Turkey. It is suspending a credit agreement to finance infrastructure projects in Syria and credit relations with the Syria government.

Turkey will impose a travel ban on some members of the Syrian leadership and freeze their possessions as well. A similar ban will be imposed on some Syrian businessmen in a position to support the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Turkey has been one of Syria’s largest trading partners and once had close ties to the Syrian regime. But the Turkish government has been vocal in condemning the al-Assad government’s assault on protesters.

Earlier this month, the United Nations said well over 3,500 people have died during the unrest. Human rights groups have reported many deaths since then. Syria’s government has consistently blamed armed gangs for the violence and said security forces are protecting the people.

At least 11 people were killed in Syria on Wednesday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an activist group. Six died in Idlib in the northwest, three in Homs and two in Hama, both in the west. A woman and a child were among those killed.

CNN is unable to independently confirm events occurring inside Syria because the government does not allow journalists free access to the country.

The U.N. Human Rights Council announced a special session on the Syrian human rights situation on Friday. The meeting, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, was sought by the European Union.

The announcement follows the release of a report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria on Monday. That panel said Syria’s military and security forces have committed crimes against humanity during their crackdown on protesters, and it urged the government to end human rights violations and bring justice to those who’ve committed such crimes.

Poland and the European Union asked for a special session of the council. Poland submitted a draft resolution that condemned “widespread, systematic and gross violations of human rights” and called for bringing “alleged perpetrators” to justice.

The draft recommends that U.N. member states and regional organizations, such as the Arab League “support efforts to protect the population of the Syrian Arab Republic and to bring an immediate end to gross human rights violations.”

There was no immediate detail about the Organization of Islamic Conference meeting in Jeddah, Saudia Arabia.

Foreign ministers from 19 Arab League countries this week voted to slap economic sanctions on the Syrian regime, including cutting ties with the nation’s central bank, banning high-profile officials from visiting Arab countries and freezing government assets.

Iraq and Lebanon abstained from the voting, officials said.

Syria accused the Arab League of trying to escalate the situation to a broader international level rather than following agreements reached with Syrian officials.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil el-Araby said a committee examining how to implement the sanctions will focus on protecting civilians while targeting the government.

The United States and the European Union have also imposed sanctions on Syria.

The Syrian government crackdown began in mid-March, when peaceful protests in the southern city of Daraa were met with violent suppression. In the following months, protests have continued across the country, with protesters demanding al-Assad’s ouster and democratic elections.