UN Independent Commission on Syria says more than 200 deaths since ceasefire began
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The UN Human Rights Council holds country reviews regularly and many are heated, but this week in Geneva several meetings have turned up the heat under accusations of human rights abuses.
Cuba appeared before the UN Committee Against Torture Wednesday 23 May to say it has no express definition of the crime of torture but is considering one. The Miami Herald in the US, in a scathing article, describes the Cuban delegation’s appearance before the Geneva commission as a “stout defense”, with the group “denying ‘each and every’ complaint of mistreatment but delicately parsing its words when it came to other alleged abuses.”
Bahrain came in for sharp criticism during its periodic review before the Human Rights Council earlier in the week. Protesters have rallied on several occasions in the past year, with concern voiced by other governments over clashes in the streets. “Bahrain’s response – that all is well and there are no political prisoners – simply doesn’t fly,” says Juliette de Rivero, Geneva director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s time for Bahrain to stop denying the problem and take genuine steps to end the country’s human rights crisis.”
Thursday 24 May the UN’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria noted that more than 200 people have died since the 12 April ceasefire was to start in Syria, information based on interviews carried out in Geneva and with people in the region around Syria. The group has not been allowed to enter the country. UPI carries a lengthy story on the report.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two days after UN Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan said in Geneva that he is worried by the growing number of bombs being used, and the growing threat of civil war, two major blasts have caused heavy damage to the south side of the capital, Damascus. State media say that scores have been killed and wounded, reports Reuters, without giving estimated figures. Aljazeera reports 29 people have died. The target appears to have been military buildings. Wednesday a bomb went off near UN monitors who are part of the agreement Annan has brokered with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The blasts appear to have been powerful enough to be heard throughout the city.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, Reuters
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan is urging Syrian ally, Iran, to help in an effort to achieve peace,
The joint UN and Arab League appointee on Syria met with Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, Wednesday 11 April in Teheran, saying that Iran could be “part of the solution”. The meeting comes a day before the ceasefire agreement that he brokered is scheduled to go into effect.
Iran is a key regional ally of Syrian President Bashir Al-Assad, as Damascus becomes increasingly isolated internationally in the face of continued violence against government opponents. Opposition forces reported 101 civilian deaths on Tuesday, according to CNN .
Annan said he received assurances that the Syrian government would respect the ceasefire, and that by 06:00 Thursday 12 April, the ceasefire hour, “We should see a much improved situation on the ground”.
Links to other sources: BBC, New York Times, Financial Times, Aljazeera
Kofi Annan
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria has agreed to accept a United Nations six-point peace plan, the organization’s former Secretary General Kofi Annan, now a special envoy on the Syria problem for the UN, said through his spokesperson, Ahmad Fawsi, Tuesday 27 March. Fawsi said Monday that Annan had received a response from Syria but would study it before responding.
Annan is currently in China, following talks in Russia. He has obtained the backing for the agreement from both countries, which have been under fire for vetoing two UN resolutions condemning Syrian government violence.
The plan was endorsed by the UN Security Council in New York 21 March. It calls for dialogue coupled with a ceasefire. There is no implementation date.
Annan’s reaction to the acceptance by Syria was reserved, with the envoy noting that the next step is to see how to implement the plan.
Visit “against deteriorating humanitarian aid background” as fighting breaks out in capital
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Jacob Kellenberger, head of the Geneva-based International Red Cross, is in Moscow Monday 19 March to ask Russian authorities for help in getting a two-hour daily break in fighting in Syria.
Kellenberger’s visit “takes place against the background of a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria,” the aid group said Sunday.
“The humanitarian situation in Homs, Idlib, Hama, Deraa and other areas affected by the unrest remains extremely difficult and could deteriorate further. People have been suffering for several months in some areas, with women and children particularly affected,’ Kellenberger said before leaving
“A daily cessation in the fighting for a period of at least two hours remains essential in order for emergency medical evacuations to take place safely and for aid to reach vulnerable people swiftly,” he noted. “The ICRC is asking for an unambiguous commitment from all concerned to these breaks in the fighting, so that it can reach people in urgent need.”
Moscow said last week it will continue its “military cooperation with Syria”. Russia is reported Monday, by Swedish think tank and research group The Stockholm International Peace Initiative (Sipri), to have supplied 78 percent of Syria’s arms in the past five years – which have increased 580 percent.
Monday fighting in capital heaviest in a year
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Russian media Saturday 17 March quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying he spoke to UN Syrian mediator Kofi Annan after Annan and Bashar al-Assad spoke, in early March and “I can assure you that there was no talk about Assad’s departure.: The remarks were published by Russia’s foreign ministry on its website. They are from an interview on Russian television Saturday night. Two days earlier he told the Duma that Russia will continue its military cooperation with Syria and that “Russia aims to defend not the regime of Bashar Assad but the right of Syrians to choose their own leader and stability in the Middle East,” reports the Moscow Times.
In other Syrian news, 27 people are reported to have died Saturday when two bombs went off at security installations in Damascus, and Thursday 15 March Saudi Arabia announced it was closing its Syrian embassy and removing staff.
Links to other sites: Ahram, Moscow Times, RiaNovosti news agency
The continuing fighting in Syria is creating a host of complex problems
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – March marks one year of fighting in Syria, with reports 14 March that government forces are heavily bombarding the northern city of Idlib, near the border with Turkey. The incessant fighting between government forces and insurgents is sending a growing number of refugees across the border but also creating refugee displacement problems within the country, says the UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva. Syria has been a host nation for Iraqi refugees and continues to shelter about 110,000 refugees who are registered with the UNHCR.
Fighting unabated
UPI reports that “The fighting in central neighborhoods of the Sunni Muslim city of Idlib, near the Turkish border, resembled last month’s fighting in the opposition Baba Amr neighborhood of the western-central city of Homs, which Assad-regime forces reclaimed two weeks ago, activist groups said. Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad bombarded Idlib using tanks, helicopters and artillery, rockets and mortars in the barrage’s fourth day, activists said.”
UNHCR appoints regional head to coordinate complex refugee situation
The UNHCR in Geneva named Panos Moumtzis its regional refugee coordinator Tuesday 13 Marc. Moumtzis has been the organization’s head of donor relations.
He told media Tuesday that “official data from surrounding countries and UNHCR’s own registration figures indicate that around 30,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries while significant numbers of Syrians are thought to be displaced inside Syria.”
Social media’s role having a huge impact on Red Cross work
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The International Red Cross working closely with the The Syrian Arab Red Crescent team, continue to provide first aid and medical care as well as food, blankets and hygiene items near the city of Homs, to residents and people who fled Baba Amr, while the worst hit areas remain off-limits. A senior Red Cross figure Tuesday evening confirmed to GenevaLunch that social media are playing an increasingly significant role in conflict areas, requiring more staff to deal with the stream of communication, which recently, for example, included French journalist Edith Bouvier using Twitter to contact the ICRC to ask for help.
Bouvier suffered leg injuries in the blast that killed two other reporters 22 February. She was able to escape Syria 2 March and go to Lebanon.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay came down hard on Sri Lanka's post-war report
(Land mine information corrected) GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Geneva’s international profile was particularly high during the past week.
The Human Rights Council condemned Syria but also highlighted growing concerns over Sri Lanka, the World Trade Organization picked up the Acta Internet freedom debate, Cern announced it will be using cloud computing to help handle massive LHC data and a campaign was kicked off to to raise awareness about anti-personnel landmine issues.
The International Red Cross Saturday morning 3 March has a team ready to provide emergency supplies to badly hit Baba Amr in Homs, Syria, after being told it could go in, with permission then denied.
Highlights from international Geneva actions during the week of 28 February – 2 March:
Cern and the computing cloud GenevaLunch story 1 March; Reuters
Human Rights Council Syria: GenevaLunch story 1 March, NY Times, Palestine News Network, Ria Novosti. Sri Lanka: The country’s ambassador to the country, Tamara Kunanayakam, reacted strongly, as did media in Sri Lanka, to a resolution presented by the US and the European Union that call for Colombo to speed up efforts to restore peace. The resolution came as Sri Lanka published a report by its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), which was also criticized by UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who said it fell short of the accountability process demanded by UN Experts.
Kunanayakam argued that the council is overstepping bounds in not allowing the LLRC, a domestic panel created by the president, to complete its work, and she called the US in particular “impatient”, saying that “the majority of the international community supports Sri Lanka’s efforts and its stand that a functioning domestic mechanism should not be circumvented by interference until its conclusion. ‘The hypocrisy and the double standard thus displayed (by the US and the European Union), if should they be encouraged would affect the credibility and undermine gravely the legitimacy of the Council,’ the Sri Lankan ambassador warned,” reports Colombo Page.
Marla Otero, a US under-secretary of state, speaking to the council in Geneva 2 March, said “We know from experience that there can be no lasting peace without reconciliation and accountability, but the United States is concerned that, in Sri Lanka, time is slipping away. The international community has waited nearly three years for action, and while we welcome the release of the LLRC report, the recommendations of the report should be implemented. ”
ICBL, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, a Nobel Laureate organization, kicked off its “Lend your leg” action to call attention to the landmine issue and to urge governments to put a full stop to the devastating harm mines cause in the run-up to mine awareness day 4 April. The 13th anniversary of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention was 1 March.
ICRC, International Red Cross, was told by the Syrian government 1 March that it could enter the battered city of Homs to provide emergency food and medical supplies to thousands of civilians who have been the victims of weeks of shelling. But Friday 2 March the head of the ICRC said they were not allowed to enter the area as promised. “It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help,” said ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger. “We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Baba Amr in the very near future. In addition, many families have fled Baba Amr, and we will help them as soon as we possibly can.”
WTO, World Trade Organization Media attention to Acta, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, has been focused mainly on the European Commission and European Parliament arguments over the hotly debated legislation, but it was also under scrutiny this week in Geneva.
IP Watch carries a lengthy article on the Acta debate, which prompted 2.5 million people to sign a petition given to the European Parliament, opposing it. IP Watch reports that Acta was discussed in the WTO “in the context of enforcement trends on the agenda of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),” which met at the start of last week. It cites one unnamed participant: “Acta was considered one of the ‘tools’ governments had against counterfeiting and piracy, but now there is misinformation about it that is leading to reactions, the participant said. In particular, the Acta debate gets ‘mixed up’ with copyright issues, when copyright itself is not addressed in Acta, the participant said.
“‘Acta enforces copyright. It does not say something is legal or illegal,’ the participant said. ‘Acta gives a tool to address illegality. Acta does not say what is a copyright infringement.’”
Strong opposition to Acta is linked in part to international opposition to Pipa, a US law that prompted Wikipedia and scores of other major Internet organizations to call a one-day whiteout 17 January 2012.
British embassy personnel withdrawn from
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva voted 38-3 to condemn Syria in a resolution that refers to “widespread and systematic violations of human rights”. China, Cuba and Russia voted against the motion, continuing to argue that intervening in Syria’s affairs will worsen the situation.
The vote came as Syrian forces bombarded the Baba Amro district of Homs, where the plight of rebels and civilians is worsened by the heaviest snow the area has seen in years, according to rebels quoted by Reuters.
The Swiss government Thursday confirmed that it closed its Syrian embassy Wednesday, after weeks of encouraging its citizens there to leave the country. The embassy says that 150 who are registered remain in the country, all but three of them with dual citizenship. Two-thirds of them live in Damascus, with another group in Aleppo.
The UK announced it has withdrawn staff from its embassy in Damascus and it is stopping all diplomatic services.
The Voice of America cites Hillary Clinton at a press conference as saying “There is little doubt that Iran is strongly supporting Assad and his regime,” adding: “The details about what they are or are not doing, we could provide what we know in a classified session, but you are absolutely right that Iran has a lot invested in Assad and will do whatever it can to keep him in power.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Two of the main Geneva-based aid organizations are reporting very different situations in the field this week. The IOM (International Organization for Migration) Tuesday 28 February announced the relatively good news that the number of people still living in camps in Haiti has fallen to under half a million people for the first time since the massive earthquake in 2010.
ICRC enters Hama for first time with blankets, hygiene kits
The ICRC (International Red Cross), which is publishing daily updates on its work in Syria, says it is entering the city of Hama for the first time, with emergency supplies for 12,000 people. But it reported Sunday that efforts to remove scores of injured people from Syria were cut short when it failed to get the agreement of both government forces and rebels to a ceasefire that would allow it to provide emergency services.
Times journalist escapes; Bouvier may also be in Lebanon
Aljazeera reports Tuesday morning that one of the injured Western journalists hurt in the shelling that killed two others last week in Homs, Syria, has escaped to Lebanon. Paul Conroy, a photographer for the Sunday Times in the UK made it safely out of Syria and French reporter Edith Bouvier, who has made headlines with her video appeal from Homs, where she suffered a broken leg, may also be in Lebanon. Bouvier’s whereabouts has not been confirmed, according to Aljazeera.
Haiti situation: refugees being moved into new homes
The IOM reports that the reduction in camp numbers
“comes as the Government of Haiti’s newly created housing authority L’Unité de Construction de Logements et de Bâtiments Publics (UCLBP) starts to deliver results and the pace of relocation picks up. An initiative known as “16/6″ is helping earthquake displaced people living in six public spaces to return to sixteen communities which are undergoing redevelopment. It was launched by President Michel Martelly last year and a government-led steering committee is now setting the pace for reconstruction and relocation.
“In the last two weeks, under this programme, some 200 families have permanently left Champ de Mars, the historic plaza in front of the ruined National Palace. Over the coming months the square will be returned to public use under the project, which is funded by Canada.”
Tunis conference on Syria goes ahead without China, Russia
Deaths Thursday include 13 members of one family
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria’s neighbours, other key countries and international organizations met in Geneva Thursday 23 February at the invitation of Switzerland to resolve a number of issues related to the tough task of getting humanitarian aid into Syria. Today’s meeting was a follow-up to an informal meeting in Berlin 17 February where options for aid were considered.
Bern’s statement on the meeting notes that it
“brought together government representatives from the key countries, including those in the neighbouring region, as well as representatives of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP), and other humanitarian actors strongly involved in the Syrian context.
“The meeting pointed out the urgent need to improve the conditions of humanitarian access to the civilian population of Syria due to the escalating humanitarian needs. The participants came to an agreement on the role of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in this regard. Against this background, the announcement of a visit to Damascus by Ms. Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, was applauded by the entire assembly.”
The International Red Cross in Geneva has been trying to get both sides to agree to brief daily ceasefires, long enough to allow in humanitarian aid, but their appeal has so far failed to extract an agreement.
Fighting continues, journalists’ bodies and injured foreigners trapped
Meanwhile, the fighting rages on in Syria, with reports that among today’s dead were 13 members of one family who were lined up and killed by security forces. Reuters, in one of the most complete updates today, reports that outrage is growing outside the country and that UN investigators Thursday accused the al-Assad regime of crimes against humanity. Water is scarce and electricity cut drastically in cities under siege by government forces.
The bodies of two Western journalists killed by shelling Thursday remain in Homs and other reporters injured by the same attack are unable to get out for treatment.
Several nations, including the US, are meeting in Tunis Friday to discuss options, but China and Russia have both said they will stay away from the conference, with China arguing that outside intervention will lead to civil war.
Ed. note: Marie Colvin’s last video interview with CNN is a moving and disturbing tribute to her work and to the people of Syria.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss embassy in Damascus, Syria will be closed in the next few days, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter told RSR, Swiss public radio Wednesday 15 February. The move is intended to send a strong signal to Syrian President Bachar Al-Assad, says the head of Swiss diplomacy, but it comes as government troops sent tanks into the capital’s city centre for the first time.
Switzerland says it ha 150-180 citizens in Syria, most of them dual nationals, and it is strongly recommending that people leave the country.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Thirteen people are reported to be dead from the most recent round of government forces bombarments of Syria’s third largest city, Homs, 9 February. City residents say the situation is “dire”, reports the BBC, with severe shortages of food and water. The UN’s Ban Ki-moon called anew on world leaders to come to an agreement on how to pressure Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to stop killing his own people. The UN is currently considering adopting an Arab League plan to send in observers.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Migration Office’s current backlog of some 3,000 applications must be completed and applications brought up to date by 2013, former Swiss Federal Judge Michel Féraud concluded as part of his final report on applications for asylum in Switzerland.
But the most damning part of his report covers applications from Iraqis at the Swiss embassies in Egypt and Syria, from 2006 to 2008: the judge writes that a Swiss Justice and Police Department decision in November 2006 to not handle the applications was not in line with procedures defined by law, and it violated constitutional guarantees.
Rigid system contributed to decision to ignore applications, backlog
His report implies that the blame lies with the rigidity of the legal situation, according to a Federal Council statement issued 11 January: all Swiss embassies are required to accept and handle asylum applications, although they are not equipped, in terms of staffing, to do so. The applicants, had they been turned down by Switzerland, would not have been obliged to return to Iraq, since they had been accepted by Egypt and Syria.
One of the debates that was taking place at the time was how to better distinguish between legitimate asylum seekers and migrants. The number of asylum seekers grew steadily from the 1970s, federal statistics show, and the resident asylum population peaked at some 105,000 in 1999. The number of applicants has been in the range of about 10-15,000 annually for the past decade just under 11,000 in 2007, with 15,567 applicants in 2011.
UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) figures published in November show that the decline in applications for asylum occurred worldwide, not just in Switzerland, from 2000 to 2010.
Judge not suggesting legal pursuit
Féraud notes that, given the lapse of time and the Federal Council’s stated desire in 2010 to make the regulations less rigid, thus giving embassies more discretion in handling cases, he is not recommending disciplinary action. His investigation did not turn up any acts of wrongdoing such as overstepping the bounds of their authority on the part of government employees.
Blocher headed department in 2005, successors unaware of decision
Christoph Blocher was the federal councilor with responsibility for the Justice and Police Department at the time; his right-wing UDC People’s Party came in for heavy criticism inside and outside Switzerland in 2006 for posters seen to be racist, as the party campaigned to reduce the number of immigrants.
Blocher was succeeded as head of the department by Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf after he lost his seat on the council in December 2007, but neither Widmer-Schlumpf nor her successor as minister with responsibility for the federal office, Simonetta Sommaruga, were informed of the Iraqi applications and the decision to ignore them.
The report was requested by the Federal Council in August 2011 when it was made aware that the applications had not been dealt with for a number of years.
Féraud filed it 22 December and the Federal Council 11 January acknowledged publicly that it had received and is considering the report.
Swiss photographer Michael Grob on his work with Cambodian landmine victims: "Unlike in Afghanistan which is still in a state of war, we had to learn to adjust to the reality of such an amount of mines still being in Cambodian soil so long after the fighting has stopped. It was at times very difficult for me to deal with the impression left by the very high number of mine inflicted casualties - especially those of injured children. The work of the UN in Cambodia is, in my eyes, of utmost importance. It is for some communities the only opportunity for some kind of future. The situation touched me deeply and profoundly...my work for the United Nations mine action - as insignificant as it might be in the bigger picture - shall go on as long as needed." (©2011 Michael Grob)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Efforts to get rid of landmines are making good progress in many countries and funding is being maintained despite government budget constraints, a key meeting in Cambodia that closed 2 December shows. But work remains, with 4,000 new victims of landmines each year: six people died in Pursat Province, Cambodia, which hosted the meeting, Thursday 1 December when their truck triggered a mine.
The 11th meeting of the States Parties, the 158 nations that are part of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention finished in Phnom Penh with several strong commitments.
The Netherlands stated that “despite cuts in other areas, the government remains convinced of this matter” and it will maintain its €15 million annual contribution to demining and victim assistance.
Austria is increasing its 2012 funding slightly, to €1.9 million.
Cambodia funding stepped up
Austria announced its first contributions to demining and victim assistance in Cambodia, totaling €400,000. New Zealand, too, will contribute to a demining project in northeastern Cambodia: more than US$ 1 million in 2012.
Burundi bright spot
Cheering news came from Burundi, which says it has completed demining, a full three years ahead of the deadline to which it was committed. It is the 19th country to be declared mine-free.
Myanmar told the landmine ban meeting in Cambodia at the end of November that it is carefully considering the matter (Photo, ©2011, AP Mine Ban Convention)
The meeting, with 1,000 delegates taking part, marked progress in a number of areas and made media headlines over the first-ever participation by Myanmar, as an observer.
The isolated nation has been making commitments to reform, and at the land-mine ban meeting it said that “thorough study of the treaty will be continued”.
Its actions will be watched closely; it is one of three countries, along with Qaddafi’s Libya and Israel, who have been accused of laying mines in 2011.
“Convincing evidence” Syria is using mines
There is also “convincing evidence”, the group says, that Syria has used mines this year.
Tuvalu and South Sudan took their seats as the Convention’s newest adherents. Finland announced that it is on the verge of becoming the 159th to join the Convention.
Fifteen States that have not yet joined the Convention attended as observers, “signaling their openness to engage in a discussion on the devastating impact of anti-personnel mines”, a meeting press release states. The US is one of these and it reported that it is continuing to review its landmine policy.
Other signs of progress reported by the meeting: “Turkey reported the destruction of all stockpiled anti-personnel mines: 3 million mines. Burundi and Nigeria declared completion of their mine clearance obligations. Guinea Bissau, Jordan and Uganda announced that they will complete their demining programmes in coming months.”
A major and often under-funded part of the States’ commitments is helping survivors. Meeting host Cambodia, one of the most affected countries, says it is “assessing its national action plan on disability with a view to preparing a revised plan in 2012.”
Britain, Germany fail to meet commitments to demine
Germany is one of four countries with new reports of mine contamination that are falling far behind on their commitments to demine.
The town of Koblenz, Germany is the site this weekend of a massive project to defuse a bomb with 3,000 tons of explosives left over from the second world war; 45,000 people are being evacuated from their homes to allow the army and experts to get rid of it. The bomb became apparent this year due to lower water levels in the Rhine, reports NPR.
Britain has failed to clear any mines in the Falklands for the second year in a row.
“The UK has consistently failed to meet their clearance obligations under the treaty, and now have to clear more than 110 mined areas across over 7km2 in less than seven years,” the group notes.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Nineteen of the 22 members of the Arab League voted Sunday 27 November for sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, effective immediately. The sanctions include travel bans, freezing government assets and end to Arab investments and dealings with Syria’s central bank.
The sanctions come as the number of deaths in Syria is widely reported to have topped 3,500 during more than eight months of fighting. The US and the European Union (and Switzerland) already have sanctions in place.
Reuters notes that “the Arab League has for decades avoided imposing sanctions its members but has been spurred into action by the scale of bloodshed during Syria’s crackdown and by the failure by Damascus to implement an Arab peace plan. The Arab peace plan called for sending in Arab monitors, withdrawing Syrian troops from residential areas and starting talks between the government and opposition. Damascus ignored several Arab League deadlines.”
The League is calling on the United Nations to adopt similar sanctions.
But the New York Times reported Sunday that the impact of the sanctions could be limited: ”
“Analysts said they expected the impact of the sanctions to be limited, in large part because Syria’s largest trading partners will not participate. Economists estimate that about 50 percent of Syrian trade is with the Arab world, but the largest chunk of that is with its immediate neighbors, including Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
“Iraq abstained and Lebanon ‘disassociated’ itself from the vote, Mr. Jassem said. Both countries said they would not enforce the sanctions, and Jordan has issued mixed signals.”
China’s Xinhua news agency cites Syrian state news reports that Syrians took to the streets in protest after the news of the sanctions was announced.
Links to other sites: Aljazeera, BBC, Ria Novosti, Xinhua
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Jordan’s King Abdullah, in a Monday interview with the BBC, became the first Arab leader to openly encourage President Bashar al-Assad to resign, in the wake of the Arab League’s decision to suspend Syria. Protesters in Syria reported up to 40 new deaths, mainly in the south of the country near the border with Jordan. But the Arab League decision was met with harsh words from Syria’s foreign minister, Washid Al Moallam: “Syria will remain – despite what some of the brothers throw at it – the heart of Arabism and its impenetrable bastion,” al-Moallem stated, adding that conspiring against Syria is doomed to fail.
Links to other sites: BBC, Guardian, Jordan Times, Sana (Syrian News Agency)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The number of deaths in Syria as a result of the crackdown on protests has reached 3,500, the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva says. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a press briefing that 60 deaths have been recorded since the Syrian government reportedly said at the start of November
The OHCHR office headed by Navi Pillay has called on Syria a number of times to end the brutality and allow an independent commission to investigate the situation in the country.
Tuesday Shamdasani said
“Since Syria signed the peace plan sponsored by the League of Arab States last week, more than 60 people are reported to have been killed by military and security forces, including at least 19 on the Sunday that marked Eid al-Adha.
“While the Syrian government announced the release of 553 detainees on Saturday on the occasion of Eid, tens of thousands remain in detention and dozens continue to be arbitrarily arrested everyday. Syrian troops continue to use tanks and heavy weaponry to mount attacks on residential areas in the city of Homs. The situation in the neighbourhood of Baba Amr has been particularly appalling. According to information the UN human rights office has received, the neighbourhood has remained under siege for seven days, with residents deprived of food, water and medical supplies.”
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – World headlines include the following, over the weekend:
- Clocks go back in the US, a week after Europe moves from summer to winter time – NPR
- Chinese mine workers, some 200-strong, pulled out 45 miners Saturday who had been trapped for more than 48 hours after an explosion – CBS, Xinhua
- Pakistan charges 7 in Bhutto death in 2007 – Aljazeera, Reuters Canada
- Syria: 553 of some 15,000 prisoners released, but 20 killed Friday – Aljazeera, Xinhuanet
- Colombia: Farc leader Alfonso Cano killed, but now what? – CS Monitor, Guardian, Jakarta Post
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria has reportedly become the fourth nation to lay down new landmines in 2011, according to ICBL, the Nobel Peace Prize International Coalition to Ban Landmines, which has strongly condemned the development.
Reports have been surfacing, starting the last weekend in October, that Syria has put down antipersonnel land mines along its border with Lebanon, near the city of Hom, one of the sites of recent protests. A Syrian official was quoted, ICBL reports, as saying the mines were to deter arms smugglers, but there is suspicion they are being laid to discourage people from fleeing the fighting and heading over the border.
Syria is not one of the 157 countries that have joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
The three other countries who have laid down mines this year are Burma/Myanmar, Israel and Libya under the Qaddafi regime.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Deaths of civilians in Syria, at the hands of their government, and deaths of soldiers continue unabated, even as the Arab League pushes President Bashar al-Assad to start a dialogue with the opposition. Aljazeera reports tha 24 people died Monday 17 October in Homs alone, a centre of the popular protests, with at least 8 more people dying in clashes in other towns. At least 11 soldiers are reported to have died in bombing incidents and fighting.
The Economist notes that the death 7 Occtober of Mashaal Tammo, a Kurdish activist in Qamishli, has sparked anger among Kurds, who have until now stayed on the fringes of the protests.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking from Switzerland where he attended the opening of the Interparliamentary Union, the world’s parliaments, urged Bashar to allow a UN human rights team to enter the country and start an inquiry that was mandated in April. Syria has not allowed UN representatives to visit, nor are foreign journalists allowed to work in the country.
Links to other sites: CNN, Economist, Telegraph, UK
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The mystery and confusion surrounding 10,000 requests for asylum by Iraqi citizens in 2006 that were reportedly never treated by the Swiss government continues. TSR public television reporting 30 September that new information it obtained shows no one at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told the Swiss representative to Syria at the time that he could ignore the requests, as he has claimed.
Federal Councillor Simonetta Somaruga brought the case to light in August, demanding an investigation. The report is expected by the end of the year.
Jacques de Watteville, the Swiss representative in Syria in 2006, was under instructions from the Federal Office for Migration, according to TSR, to handle the overwhelming number of asylum requests from Iraq, but he had no budget for this and he appears to have taken his concerns to the UNHCR. He replied to the IOM that the UN refugee organization said the letters did not need to be dealt with, but it remains unclear if this referred to all asylum requests. There appears to have been confusion about the role the UNHCR would play in accepting refugees in a camp in Syria, which did not exist at the time of the correspondence.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syrian troops have killed 2,600 people since President Bashar al-Assad began putting down unrest in the country, Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Monday in Geneva. Only one week earlier she said a fact-finding commission had put the number of killings at 2,200.
Syria will be on the agenda during the three week session of the Human Rights Council, which opened Monday morning 12 September in Geneva.
Reuters and Le Temps (Fre) report that the figure is about twice the number released early Monday by the Syrian government. “Bouthaina Shaaban, one of Assad’s advisors, earlier on Monday said about 1,400 people had died — half of them police officers and half opposition activists. Syria blames armed groups and “terrorists” for the violence and argues the security forces are defending public order,” writes Reuters.
Navi Pillay’s opening remarks 12 September at the 18th session of the Human Rights Council
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Ambassador to the UN Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe was quick to praise a resolution condemning Syria, taken by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council Tuesday 23 August. The council also agreed to set up a commission of inquiry to further investigate the human rights situation in Syria.
The vote was 33 in favour, 4 against and 9 abstentions. Russia called the draft resolution one-sided and politicized, saying it was essentially aimed at removing a legitimate government. China said that the correct way to protect human rights was not through accusations and that a response to the crisis should respect Syria’s sovereignty and the promotion of dialogue.
The council stated at the close of the meeting, the second special session on Syria called this year:
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a Sunday night television address to the country’s citizens that he has no intention of stepping aside under pressure from Western nations and the UN, but he promised reforms, including elections in February.
Reuters reports that the reluctance of the Gaza Strip’s Hamas organization, based in Damascus, Syria, to publicly show support for the Syrian government, has led to Iran pulling out its funding, leaving Hamas with a cash shortage. Hamas, which refuses to recognize Israel, counts on a mix of foreign aid and taxes collected in the Gaza Strip, but revenues from taxes have been “inconsistent” according to the news agency.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss government has recalled its ambassador to Syria for consultations, to send a strong signal to Damascus that Bern cannot accept the Syrian government’s violence against its citizens and the fact it has ignored international appeals to stop.
The recall falls short of a rupture in international relations, Bern noted in a statement issued Thursday 18 August:
“Due to the fact that the numerous calls from the international community to end the violence have been ignored, the FDFA has decided to recall the Swiss Ambassador in Syria to Bern for consultations. This decision was made because Switzerland cannot tolerate the systematic human rights violations perpetrated by the Syrian security forces against the civilian population. In view of its humanitarian tradition, Switzerland wishes to send a strong signal to Damascus. The recall of the Swiss Ambassador in Damascus is not, however, equivalent to a rupture of diplomatic relations. The Swiss Embassy in Damascus remains open and fully operational.”
The Federal Council approved sanctions against Syria 18 May, in line with those of the European Union, and it extended these 24 May and again this week, 17 August. These include freezing assets of government officials and their entourages, travel bans and restrictions on arms exports. Bern is also demanding that Syria give foreign journalists access to the country, to report on events there.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Syria significantly stepped up its fight against protesters over the weekend, drawing sharp rebukes from Saudi Arabia and more criticism from neighbouring countries. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called the lastest round “unacceptable” to his country and recalled his ambassador to Syria, “breaking Arab silence”, as Reuters puts it. The king insisted that Syria’s leaders “enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms”.
Tanks were striking the city of Deir al-Zor in an oil-producing region near the border with Iraq early Monday for the second day in a row, with western news agencies reporting up to 65 people killed (unconfirmed figures). A week earlier government forces hit the city of Hamas with gunfire, killing an unknown number.
The African Alliance in Capetown is calling on South Africa to support a UN Resolution condemning Syrian government violence. Sunday, Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby, also condemned the violence publicly and a Turkish minister says his country’s patience is thinning.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US will not intervene militarily and Europe is pushing for a UN condemnation of the Syrian government’s crackdown on its citizens, now in its third day, which included the deaths of a reported 100 people in the city of Hama Sunday 31 July alone. Chinese news agency Xinhua quotes Syrian state media as saying the army has not entered Hama while negotiations continue, and that state media show gunmen killing Syrian security forces.
A late-night session of the UN Security Council in New York Monday 1 August failed to bring about an agreement on condemning the violence, but some diplomats say progress is being made, although China and Russia still fear that a condemnation could lead to military intervention.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The US Monday 11 July condemned a Syrian crowd’s attack on its embassy and the ambassador’s residence in Damascus Monday, breaking windows and prompting Washington to summon the Syrian ambassador. France’s embassy was also attacked and reports conflict over whether or not there were any injuries but France appears to be considering telling its staff to leave.
The Financial Times reports that US Ambassador Robert Ford, who angered the Syrian government by visiting the restive city of Hama last Thursday, published an unusually blunt message on the US State Department’s Facebook page before the US embassy was attacked. The Guardian notes that hundreds of Syrian protesters attended the funeral today of Khaled Afnan in the central Syrian city of Homs, reportedly killed by government forces over teh weekend.
