Syrian Human Rights Organization Statement

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By Syrian Human Rights Organization

Article 39
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

Article 40
In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the UNSC may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be made without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The UNSC shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.

Article 41
The UNSC may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations.

Statement

Following our statement issued on the 6th of August, 2012 after the resignation of UN-Arab League joint peace envoy to Syria Kofi Anan on the 2nd of August, 2012, veteran Algerian Diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi accepted to replace Kofi Anan as the new UN-Arab League peace envoy to Syria after the latter quit his mission due to the stalemate at the UN Security Council over Syria.

Lakhdar Brahimi was hesitant to take on the role of Syrian peace envoy and it took him two weeks before he announced his acceptance, as he demanded his authority on the matter be adopted by the UN Security Council, so as to avoid failing in his mission as his predecessor did.

His stance was hailed by the Syrian people, following his statement last week in which he urged the UNSC and other countries in the region to unite in securing an expedited political transition in Syria. However, there are now rumors that Brahimi accepted this mission after changing the title of his mission from the UN-Arab League joint peace envoy to another one which has yet to be revealed, and that he has relocated to New York instead of residing in Geneva, as his predecessor had done.

The Syrian Human Rights Organization calls upon Brahimi not to change his title or relocate. The Organization also warns him not to continue with his mission unless his mandates and powers are based on articles 41-42 and the articles of Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These give him the power to impose no-fly, buffer and safe zones under the threat of force against the Syrian regime, which is killing its own people and disregarding legal, humanitarian and moral values.

Otherwise, Brahimi will experience the same disappointment as Annan, and the crimes against the Syrian people will continue. The complicity of the international community is playing a major role in providing impunity to these crimes, by allowing the illegal regime of the ex-Soviet Union to become the UNSC’s spokesperson. Russia’s belligerence at the UNSC distorts political dialogue between all parties and undermines respect for the UN.

Topic background

Some people, including Brahimi, continue a policy of inclusion for the Syrian regime.

Annan centering his plan on this strategy cost 12,453 Syrian lives—the number of deaths during the period in which he served as enjoy, as documented by our organization.

Since Kofi Annan resigned, the Syrian regime has escalated its brutal crackdown and the number of casualties has increased.

  • The death toll on the day after Kofi Annan’s resignation on 03/08/2012 was 143, raising the total death toll to 23,055.
  • The death toll on the next day, Saturday 04/08/2012 was 214, raising the total death toll to 23,269.
  • The death toll on the next day, Sunday 05/08/2012 was 163, raising the total death toll 23,693.
  • The death toll on the next day, Monday 06/08/2012 was 261, raising the total death toll to 23,693.
  • The death toll on the next day, Tuesday 07/08/2012 was 255, raising the total death toll to 23,948.
  • The death toll on the next day, Wednesday 08/08/2012 was 171, raising the total death toll to 24,119.
  • The death toll on the next day, Thursday 09/08/2012 was 143, raising the total death toll to 24,262.
  • The death toll on the next day, Friday 10/08/2012 was 151, raising the total death toll to 24,413.
  • The death toll on the next day, Saturday 11/08/2012 was 127, raising the total death toll to 24,540.
  • The death toll on the next day, Sunday 12/08/2012 was157, raising the total death toll to 24,697.
  • The death toll on the next day, Monday 13/08/2012 was 123, raising the total death toll to 24,820.
  • The death toll on the next day, Tuesday 14/08/2012 was 96, raising the total death toll to 24,916.
  • The death toll on the next day, Wednesday 15/08/2012 was 189, raising the total death toll to 25,105.
  • The death toll on the next day, Thursday 16/08/2012 was 249, raising the total death toll to 25,354.
  • The death toll on the next day, Friday 17/08/2012 was 169, raising the total death toll to 25,523.

Today, Saturday 18/08/2012 on the last day of the holy month of Ramadan, the death toll is 171, raising the total death toll 25,694 identified civilians.

Conclusion:

The average daily death toll since the day of resignation by Kofi Annan until this day is 186, all of whom have been killed by the regime’s military tanks, artillery and air force, in addition to the summary executions carried out by Assad’s guerilla forces.

Politically:

The Syrian regime welcomed Lakhdar Brahimi as the new peace envoy even before he publicized his acceptance of the mission, knowing that his efforts will not deter their efforts to destroy the revolution.

The regime’s ally Russian said it expects the new envoy to work based on Annan’s original plan, which

Inflicted heavy losses on the Syrian people by adding 15,234 civilians to the death toll.
Began before regime forces started using fighter jets and helicopter gunships (which were not listed in Annan’s plan) along with heavy artillery, military tanks and rocket launchers that the plan demanded the regime withdraw completely from the cities.
Preserved the regime’s policy of collective punishment by blocking humanitarian aid by the United Nations. When aid was delivered, the regime insisted on supervising its distribution, based on its knowledge of areas most acquiescent to regime control.
Bridged the gap between the political arrests and extrajudicial killings, since most of the political detainees are now executed.
Began before the regime shifted its tactics toward peaceful protests, stopping firing ammunition on them and instead using mortar shells and rocket propellers.

Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, the new head of the unarmed UN military observer mission in Syria further commented that, expressed the naïve view that, despite the expiry of his mission,he will stay in order to “monitor the effects of the violence” despite the futility of this monitoring to stem the violence.

In Geneva, Russia has outlined a plan for political transition in Syria that would main Ba’ath Party authority and Bashar al-Assad as the head of this authority, despite the fact that the Syrian revolution began—and thousands have died—specifically to topple these two entities.

Final Conclusion:

The Syrian regime and its Russian ally wish to repeat the same scenario of mass murder amid international impunity, with which the UNSC is complicit. The UNSC provides the international impunity to the Syrian regime, while it continues to massacre civilians, by sending a useless observer mission and a powerless peace envoy to show that the UNSC is taking action on the Syrian crisis.

If this scenario is the UNSC’s gift to Syria’s orphaned children and bereaved men and women on Eid al-Fitr, then we decline this offer and also kindly urge Mr. Brahimi not to help wrap it.

Board of Directors
Damascus 18/08/2012

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