tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21168759296539157822024-03-13T13:49:22.601-07:00Syria Solidarity UKUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger368125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-58516530419702431552023-02-10T09:51:00.007-08:002023-02-25T02:29:16.400-08:00End Russia’s veto on aid to Syria<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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Today, Syrians and friends of Syrians are writing to UK Government ministers calling for action to bring an end to Russia’s veto on aid to Syria.<br />
<br />
The letter in full:<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 24px">
The Rt Honourable James Cleverly<br />
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK<br />
<br />
CC: Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, The Rt Honourable Andrew Mitchell<br />
<br />
10 February 2023<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Foreign Secretary,<br />
<br />
<u>Re. Humanitarian catastrophe in northwest Syria</u><br />
<br />
We write urging you to do all possible to bring an end to Russia’s veto on aid to Syria. There is an urgent need to deliver aid and special equipment for search and rescue teams, as well as humanitarian aid for victims of both the earthquake and Assad’s war. There is also a growing consensus that there is no legal impediment to delivering cross-border aid. (<a href="https://www.crossborderislegal.org/">www.crossborderislegal.org</a>)<br />
<br />
We welcome your public statement of Tuesday 7 February of additional support to the White Helmets, and the subsequent press release promising humanitarian help to Turkey and Syria, noting that “the UK is prioritising what the Turkish government and UN are asking for.”<br />
<br />
But we see with shock and dismay that the only route being considered by the UN into non-government areas of Syria—the Bab Al Hawa border crossing—was out of operation for several days. The Assad regime is demanding that the only route for international aid is via Damascus. UN agencies, as well as the UK and its partners, know from extensive experience over the past twelve years how the regime in Damascus will block aid to non-government areas.<br />
<br />
We call on the UK to take three steps:<br />
<ol>
<li />Work with the sovereign state of Turkey and with Coalition allies present in northeast Syria to bring emergency aid into northwest Syria outside of the UN system.<br />
<br />
<li />Advocate the lifting of restrictions on cross-border aid routes at the UN Security Council.<br />
<br />
<li />If Russia continues to block UN aid routes at the Security Council, work to bring about a General Assembly mandate for expanded cross-border aid delivery by any and all viable border crossings.<br />
</ol>
In these extreme circumstances, the UK and its allies must not be dictated to by rogue regimes on where and how to deliver humanitarian aid.<br />
<br />
<i>Signatories:</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 24px">Action For Sama,<br />
<a href="https://www.actionforsama.com/">www.actionforsama.com</a><br />
Syrian Legal Development Programme,
<br />
<a href="https://sldp.ngo/en/">sldp.ngo</a><br />
Syria Solidarity UK,<br />
<a href="https://www.syriauk.org/">www.syriauk.org</a></div>
<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-17978970251811979562023-02-07T06:08:00.015-08:002023-02-11T07:23:10.381-08:00Syria earthquake — how to help<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">What can we do?</span><br />
Support frontline humanitarian and medical organisations working on the ground:<br />
<ul>
<li />White Helmets — <a href="https://www.whitehelmets.org/en/">www.whitehelmets.org</a>
<li />Syrian British Medical Society — <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/donate-to-help-syrians-after-the-earthquake">via GoFundMe</a>
<li />Action for Humanity (Syria Relief) — <a href="https://actionforhumanity.org/appeals/emergency-syria-earthquake-appeal/">actionforhumanity.org</a>
<li />Hand in Hand for Aid and Development — <a href="https://hihfad.enthuse.com/cf/emergency-syria-earthquake-appeal">hihfad.enthuse.com</a>
<li />Molham Team — <a href="https://molhamteam.com/en/campaigns/439">molhamteam.com</a>
<li />Basmeh Zeitooneh — <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/page/turkey-earthquake">via justgiving.com</a>
<li />Syria Relief and Development — <a href="https://srd.ngo/donations/humanitarian-crisis-in-northwest-syria-2/">srd.ngo</a>
<li />Syrian American Medical Society — <a href="https://www.sams-usa.net/donate/">www.sams-usa.net</a>
<li />UOSSM Canada — <a href="https://www.uossm-canada.org/earthquake_relief">www.uossm-canada.org</a>
</ul>
<br />
Recommendations via <a href="https://www.syrianbritish.org/post/donate-to-earthquake-survivors-in-syria">SBC</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">What can the UK Government do?</span><br />
While the UK Government has promised an uplift in aid to Syria Civil Defence — the White Helmets — it is clear that much more will be required.<br />
<br />
Close to three million displaced Syrians who fled the Assad regime now live in northwest Syria, one of the regions hardest hit by the earthquake. The UK Government and its allies need to help end the isolation of displaced Syrians along Syria’s borders.<br />
<br />
Many Syrians resettled in the UK have close family members still trapped in Syria, parents, siblings, separated for years. Many will have lost friends and family in the earthquake. The UK Government must now show compassion and ease conditions for family reunion.<br />
<br />
Supporters of the Assad regime are using the crisis to call for an end to sanctions. Targeted sanctions against the Syrian regime are directed against individuals responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity, torture and mass-murder of civilians. This crisis must not be a route to impunity.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">The ONE THING that Putin and Assad do not want!</span><br />
The one thing the Assad regime doesn’t want is the one thing that is most needed.<br />
<br />
For years, the Russian government, allied to Assad, has used its veto at the UN Security Council to restrict the flow of aid to the displaced millions in northwest Syria.<br />
<br />
Restrictions on cross-border UN aid must end NOW, to respond to the acute crisis of the earthquake, and to alleviate the chronic suffering caused by Assad’s war on civilians.
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 80%;">Photo: Priti Patel meeting Syrian refugee children in 2017 when she was Secretary of State for International Development. Photo by Robert Oxley, DFID.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one";">The UK’s Rwanda removals policy threatens vulnerable Syrians, survivors of torture and war.</span><br />
<br />
With the UK Government continuing to threaten asylum seekers with removal to Rwanda, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WWbBTb11dyc_55u07u6bN5ab3xtvhDpB/view?usp=sharing">Syrian organisations in the UK have written to Home Secretary Priti Patel</a>.<br />
<br />
Many were shocked and surprised when several Syrian asylum seekers were amongst the first to be threatened by the new removals policy. Syrians are known to be fleeing one of the most brutal regimes on the planet.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one";">Incredibly, the UK’s Rwanda removals policy is being run by individuals with clear knowledge of the Assad regime’s brutality.</span><br />
<br />
The current Home Secretary Priti Patel was formerly Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017, responsible for delivering aid to millions of Syrians who were forced to flee Assad and Putin’s bombs.<br />
<br />
And the top civil servant at the Home Office, Permanent Secretary Matthew Rycroft, was previously responsible for Syria aid from 2018 to 2020 as Permanent Secretary for International Development, and he was the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2015 to 2018, where he spoke on the Assad regime’s use of torture and mass murder, its targeting of medics and aid workers.<br />
<br />
Despite this, we have already seen Patel and Rycroft put asylum seekers in UK army camps—including Syrians, including injured survivors of Assad’s bombs, including survivors of torture—and we have seen them threaten asylum seekers with dangerous forced pushbacks at sea.<br />
<br />
This Government has in the past welcomed tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. Amongst the first Syrian asylum seekers to be listed for removal to Rwanda were ones whose close family members had already been given refuge in the UK. But being Syrian is no protection from this Government’s range of threats towards asylum seekers.<br />
<br />
The Rwanda policy is in the process of being challenged in the courts. At the same time the governing Conservative Party is in the process of selecting a new leader—a new Prime Minister for Britain. The press have been briefed that there will be no flights before that election is complete. That’s not good enough. It means the Government is still preparing for removals, still threatening and detaining vulnerable asylum seekers.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one";">We believe the Rwanda removals policy violates the UN Convention for Refugees.</span><br />
<br />
In short, the policy is illegal under international law. When a government puts itself above the law, it is on a path to tyranny, as we see in Syria. So our call is not just for the UK Government to act humanely, it is for the Government to respect the institutions of law and to suspend removals to Rwanda until after the final determination of the lawfulness of their policy, in national and international courts.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one";">Below is the letter in full. <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WWbBTb11dyc_55u07u6bN5ab3xtvhDpB/view?usp=sharing">PDF version here</a>.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div style="margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;">
The Right Honourable Priti Patel<br />
Secretary of State for the Home Department<br />
Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF<br />
<br />
public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk ; withammp@parliament.uk<br />
<br />
14 July 2022<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Ms Patel<br />
<br />
<b>Re. Continued threat of flights to Rwanda</b><br />
<br />
We, members and supporters of the Syrian community, write to you to express our deep concern about the continued threat to asylum seekers of forced removal to Rwanda.<br />
<br />
Despite the Order of the European Court of Human Rights of 14 June forbidding removal to Rwanda, and the consequent cancellation of that evening’s flight, you stated to the House of Commons on the following day that ‘preparations for future flights have already begun.’<br />
<br />
On July 12, the Times, citing unnamed officials, reported that ‘preparations for a second flight to Rwanda have been put on hold until after the Conservative Party has elected a new Prime Minister’, since a flight would ‘generate too much controversy during the leadership contest.’<br />
<br />
That is an acknowledgment that flights were being planned despite the Order of the European Court and in advance of the lawfulness of the policy being tested in the national courts. And also that such a policy is controversial, even among Conservative voters.<br />
<br />
However welcome, the suspension does not go nearly far enough. Firstly it has not to date been confirmed by yourself or other Government officials speaking on the record; secondly it is a suspension only until there is a new Conservative leader; and thirdly it is clear that preparations continue for a further flight.<br />
<br />
Such preparation means that scores of asylum seekers continue to be given letters of intent to remove them without hearing their claim, and to be detained pending removal. This causes immense distress and further traumatisation of already vulnerable and traumatised people.<br />
<br />
Many are Syrians, new members of our community, with family and friends here, who no longer have any option but to take dangerous journeys by truck or boat. They are fleeing the same dangers, the same catastrophe, the same regime, as earlier Syrian arrivals.<br />
<br />
The Government recognised until recently the particular vulnerability of Syrians by devising safe routes. It is entirely inconsistent to have first welcomed Syrian refugees, and to now punish them when there is no longer a safe route. The same can be said of other new arrivals: Sudanese, Afghans and others whose asylum claims are accepted as perfectly legitimate but who are now punished for the lack of safe passage to asylum.<br />
<br />
We consider that your Rwanda policy is inhumane and contrary to your obligations under the UN Convention for Refugees. We ask you, at the very least, to respect national and international law by giving a public guarantee now that no flights to Rwanda will be arranged until after the final determination of the lawfulness of your policy, in national and international courts.<br />
<br />
Yours sincerely<br />
<br />
Waad Al-Kateab, <a href="https://www.actionforsama.com/">Action For Sama</a><br />
<br />
Dr Fadel Moghrabi, Peace and Justice for Syria<br />
<br />
Moaz El Sayed, <a href="https://www.rrsoc.org/">Rethink Rebuild Society</a><br />
<br />
Sama Kiki, <a href="https://sldp.ngo/en/">Syrian Legal Development Programme</a><br />
<br />
Mohammed Ateek, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SyriaSolidarityCampaign/">Syria Solidarity Campaign</a><br />
<br />
Batool Abdulkareem, <a href="https://www.syriauk.org/">Syria Solidarity UK</a><br />
<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-41404580702372972162022-06-20T12:08:00.015-07:002022-07-15T02:05:39.087-07:00Syrians are targeted by the UK’s Rwanda deportation plan<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<div style="background-color: #e9e2e5; border: 2px solid rgb(216, 205, 209); color: black; font-size: 110%; margin-right: 10px; padding: 15px;">
<b>Many Syrian refugees have found a welcome in the UK. But more recently, Syrians arriving in the UK have been amongst those asylum seekers put in army camps, and have even been locked up and threatened with deportation to Rwanda.</b><br />
<br />
<b>All of us, Syrian and non-Syrian, have an interest in stopping these offensive policies—they stir hate and racism against all asylum seekers and refugees, and threaten the cohesiveness of UK society.</b><br />
<br />
<b>Here we explain the latest developments in the UK Government’s Rwanda plan, and consider what Syrians and their friends can do to stop it.</b><br />
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 130%;">What happened to stop the plane to Kigali on June 14th?</span><br />
<br />
As we know, there are currently no legal routes to asylum in the UK, except for some people from Hong Kong, Ukraine and possibly Afghanistan. Because of our geography, everyone who crosses clandestinely into the UK can be deemed to have passed through another safe country. But because of Brexit, since December 2020 they cannot be returned to Europe. So, for a UK Government obsessed with its borders, that meant finding somewhere else to remove them to.<br />
<br />
Israel started sending some of its asylum seekers to Rwanda in 2013—at first voluntarily, but <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">in 2018 forcibly</a>—after evidence that it led to more dangerous journeys instead of safety, compulsory transfers were discontinued after a few months. <br />
<br />
Despite this dismal outcome, the UK chose to follow Israel’s example.<br />
<br />
The first hundred men, randomly selected it seems, were given letters by the Home Office in mid May, indicating the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inadmissibility-third-country-cases/inadmissibility-safe-third-country-cases-accessible">‘inadmissibility’</a> of their asylum claim (because they had arrived clandestinely) and their consequent removal to Rwanda. Anyone who arrives without permission from 9th May is liable to put on this list—initially men over the age of eighteen, but eventually everybody. And if they are granted asylum by Rwanda, they are expected to settle there.<br />
<br />
How does this affect the Syrian community, and its supporters? Some of the early Syrian refugees from 2011 onwards were lucky enough to obtain visas (usually for study) and could claim asylum safely while in the UK. Then there was the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/latest/2021/3/6059f1fd4/the-uks-syria-resettlement-progamme-looking-back-and-ahead.html">Syrian Resettlement Scheme</a>, which at first offered to take 500, but after the huge <a href="https://www.syriauk.org/2015/09/massive-solidarity-march-with-refugees.html">Refugees Welcome march in 2015</a>, the UK Government promised to welcome 20,000 vulnerable Syrians from refugee camps in surrounding countries. But that was wound up in 2021, ostensibly on account of the covid pandemic. By then, <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8750/CBP-8750.pdf">over 19,000 Syrians</a> had been accepted in the UK. Nothing has since replaced it.<br />
<br />
Since then, Syrian asylum seekers have had no option but to take the dangerous journeys so deplored by the Government, and on arrival in the UK have faced an increasingly hostile environment. From September 2020 onwards, Syrians were among the hundreds sent to military camps at Pennally and Napier—indeed they were among the founders of <a href="https://corporatewatch.org/camp-residents-of-penally-an-interview-with-refugees-organising-inside-the-home-offices-military-camp/">CROP (Camp Residents of Pennally)</a> whose campaigning led to the closure of that camp, and afterwards to similar attempts to organise the residents of Napier. (The struggle to close Napier is still ongoing).<br />
<br />
Some of the original CROP members have founded a new organisation, <a href="https://twitter.com/lsa_art">Life Seekers Aid</a>. Though it has a Syrian co-founder, Life Seekers Aid has few links with the more established Syrian community, but they are busy helping new arrivals, Syrian and non-Syrian, who are struggling in an ever-more hostile UK asylum system. Of the one hundred recent arrivals who received letters of removal to Rwanda, there were more than twenty Syrians, some of whom went on hunger strike in detention to protest their removal. So, Syrian asylum seekers have been at the heart of resistance to the most inhumane polices of this Government, and deserve our support.<br />
<br />
Congratulations also to Action for Sama! With the Syria Campaign, they organised an <a href="https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/stop-asylum-seekers-being-deported-to-rwanda/">email drop to MPs</a> against the forced removals to Rwanda. <a href="https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/stop-asylum-seekers-being-deported-to-rwanda/"><b>Please add your voice.</b></a><br />
<br />
Internationally, the Government’s abusive policy has drawn attention from Syrian human rights organisations and media. The Syria Justice and Accountability Centre wrote on <a href="https://syriaaccountability.org/outsourcing-responsibility-why-the-uks-controversial-rwanda-scheme-undermines-international-law/">why the UK’s controversial Rwanda scheme undermines international law</a>. And Syria Direct has written <a href="https://syriadirect.org/10-things-to-know-about-the-uk-deal-to-deport-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda/">ten things to know about the UK’s Rwanda deal</a>, and has reported on <a href="https://syriadirect.org/i-wont-go-id-rather-die-the-agony-of-two-detained-syrian-asylum-seekers-facing-deportation-from-the-uk-to-rwanda/">the agony of two detained Syrian asylum seekers facing deportation</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 130%;">Respite</span><br />
<br />
There was huge relief last Tuesday evening at the last minute intervention by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which forbade the removal of one asylum seeker in the UK on the flight to Rwanda. This led to the other six remaining on the flight applying successfully for court injunctions removing them, on the same basis. So the flight, now empty, was called off!<br />
<br />
Despite its bluster, it now seems impossible for the UK government to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, according to its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/memorandum-of-understanding-mou-between-the-uk-and-rwanda/memorandum-of-understanding-between-the-government-of-the-united-kingdom-of-great-britain-and-northern-ireland-and-the-government-of-that">Memorandum of Understanding</a> of April 2022, while its legality is being tested in the UK courts.<br />
<br />
This could take many months—the first stage is due by end July—nevertheless the injunction forbidding removal is merely a respite, a temporary relief. And judging by the words of the UK judges to date, the prospects of a final favourable decision are not good.<br />
<br />
Why should this be, in light of the formidable coalition of forces aligned against it?<br />
<br />
The campaigners and charities which issued the judicial review were a representative sample of the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/government-boris-johnson-uk-government-prime-minister-priti-patel-b2058404.html">160 plus organisations which condemned the
policy</a> as ‘shamefully cruel’ in mid April.<br />
<br />
One of the parties to the legal challenge is the <a href="https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/union-proposes-staff-boycott-of-home-offices-inhumane-rwanda-scheme">trade union</a> representing Home Office workers who would have to implement the policy.<br />
<br />
The UNHCR, which the judges accepted as the primary arbitrer with responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the 1951 Refugee Convention, wrote <a href="https://www.ein.org.uk/news/unhcr-uks-migration-partnership-rwanda-unlawful-and-incompatible-refugee-convention">a detailed analysis</a> of the Government’s Rwanda policy in early June, which condemned it as seeking’ to shift responsibility’ and lacking in ‘necessary safeguards’ and as ‘incompatible with the letter and spirit of the 1951 Convention’.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggOvS7Ah2JitIlTxOhbKrXk_N-2Ke9erXsBG42UQjHn3OQlU9C36W9J_67OjThWD4COhdD2Jnt9Eptv3u-Lnce5ugJAodcTWJ8hu1eZkOAmw6_rwUJQRszB0NRU2hT7MAheAuDFCf26I2TX5wEbR8c1lMmyEh_5R_es3hYdNxeL41f1orFaVO9LoN8ww/s1600/rwanda_card.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggOvS7Ah2JitIlTxOhbKrXk_N-2Ke9erXsBG42UQjHn3OQlU9C36W9J_67OjThWD4COhdD2Jnt9Eptv3u-Lnce5ugJAodcTWJ8hu1eZkOAmw6_rwUJQRszB0NRU2hT7MAheAuDFCf26I2TX5wEbR8c1lMmyEh_5R_es3hYdNxeL41f1orFaVO9LoN8ww/s1600/rwanda_card.png"/></a>
<br />
Some of the asylum seekers threatened with removal to Rwanda went on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/02/home-office-threatens-hunger-strikers-with-faster-deportation-to-rwanda">hunger strike</a>, and others self harmed or attempted suicide.<br />
<br />
Apart from those directly involved in the legal challenge, many others have expressed strong opposition, including:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/bishops-letter-times-rwanda-asylum-policy"><b>The Bishops of the Church of England</b></a>
</li><li><a href="https://www.huckmag.com/perspectives/activism-2/why-we-blocked-a-road-to-stop-the-rwanda-flight/"><b>Community based anti deportation campaigns</b></a>
</li><li><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/rwanda-deportation-plan-prince-charles-says-policy-is-appalling-as-court-rules-first-asylum-seekers-can-be-sent-away-12631489"><b>The Prince of Wales</b></a>
</li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/freefromtorture/status/1536783982754516993"><b>The world renowned medical organisation ‘Freedom From Torture’</b></a>
</li></ul>
<br />
The opposition parties in <a href="https://labourlist.org/2022/06/watch-starmer-slams-government-rwanda-scheme-as-chaotic-diversion/">Parliament</a>, Labour, Lib Dems, SNP and others, also oppose the Rwanda plan. But public opinion polls still indicate support from <a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/polls-support-rwanda-immigration-plans-1683903">the base of the Conservative party</a>.<br />
<br />
Why is this relevant to a court challenge, where the law and legal precedent is supposed to trump public opinion? Because of the weight that the UK judges gave to the ‘public interest’, over the risk to asylum seekers, in considering whether to order a temporary ban on flights. Granted they considered only an interim measure, while the legality of the policy as a whole was still undecided by the courts. So the so called ‘balance of convenience’ in such cases might give more weight to untested Government assurances, than in the final judgment.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless the High Court Judge placed great weight on the ‘legitimate public interest’ in ‘deterring asylum seekers from dangerous journeys’—the stated aim of the British Government; and despite the powerful UNHCR arguments to the contrary, found that the risk to asylum seekers in Rwanda was ‘very small’, at least in the interim period before the full case was decided.<br />
<br />
Any balancing act between competing interests is obviously a discretionary judgment. This one depended on not examining the UNHCR report in any depth—the judge’s excuse being that he did not have time to consider it closely—and on ignoring the lack of evidence that the policy was or would be an effective deterrent to ‘dangerous journeys’.<br />
<br />
But the judges at the Court of Appeal agreed, in refusing to find that the first instance judge’s opinion was flawed, despite the UNHCR evidence. As did the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/news/rwanda-permission-to-appeal-application-refused.html">Supreme Court</a>, in agreeing with the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court contented itself with assurances from the Home Office that should the final case go against the Government, the asylum seekers would then be returned to the UK from Rwanda.<br />
<br />
The ECHR, more removed from British public opinion, took the UNHCR evidence more seriously. It decided to indicate to the Government of the UK, under Rule 39, that the applicant should not be removed until the expiry of a period of three weeks following the delivery of the final domestic decision in the ongoing judicial review proceedings.<br />
<br />
<div style="margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;">
“The Court had regard to the concerns identified in the material before it, in particular by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that asylum-seekers transferred from the United Kingdom to Rwanda will not have access to fair and efficient procedures for the determination of refugee status as well as the finding by the High Court that the question whether the decision to treat Rwanda as a safe third country was irrational or based on insufficient enquiry gave rise to “serious triable issues”. In light of the resulting risk of treatment contrary to the applicant’s Convention rights as well as the fact that Rwanda is outside the Convention legal space (and is therefore not bound by the European Convention on Human Rights) and the absence of any legally enforceable mechanism for the applicant’s return to the United Kingdom in the event of a successful merits challenge before the domestic courts, the Court has decided to grant this interim measure to prevent the applicant’s removal until the domestic courts have had the opportunity to first consider those issues.”<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: right;">(<a href="https://twitter.com/ECHR_CEDH/status/1536779296978747397">ECHR Press Release</a>, 14 June 2022)</div>
</div>
<br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 130%;">What next?</span><br />
<br />
The Government will not give up this policy easily—it is the core of their new <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/36/contents/enacted">Nationality and Borders Act</a> which outsources its responsibility for asylum, under the Refugee Convention. To save the policy, the Government is now threatening to join Russia, Europe’s outlaw, outside the European Convention on Human Rights.<br />
<br />
But the UK judges could defeat it; we need to strengthen the judges’ hand and rally their courage, by persuading them that the damage done to asylum seekers is greater than the damage done to the Government’s prestige by the undermining of its post Brexit flagship policy. We know that the lawyers, who have already proven their dedication, will do an excellent job in preparing the case. But this will be a decision based on moral values, as much as on legal principle.<br />
<br />
With the Bishops and the Prince of Wales already publicly opposed to the Rwanda plan, we might ask what more could we do to convince the judges that public opinion is against it? But the smaller and more radical organisations, for example the Stop Deportations, No Borders movement, had a significant effect by striking at the right moment, delaying the flight sufficiently to give the lawyers and judges time for their last minute interventions—the last person was ordered off the plane only 20 minutes before take off, after an hour’s delay to the schedule.<br />
<br />
A cacophony of voices—influential and less so—will add to the noise that the judges will hear, despite themselves, when they sit in judgment at the end of July and after. So we hope to add to that noise, on behalf of the many Syrians and others arriving on our shores, still desperately seeking safety, and still fighting for their human rights after arrival.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-82833573211723959592022-02-19T04:39:00.026-08:002022-02-19T08:16:22.246-08:00Bringing Assad to Justice <meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<i>Review by Clara Connolly</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB4ZicrJjEPYS7oSI_iCN21yeesdO8A67iuk3eDdWZ-PROsSandklPpvjom2_xEbqTMgS3HbJAjoFO3_WK2wX6NKZr7iiSV10S49TYlz14MUTcXU-6SXPDCdzNrBH8ypIfhkh3D3IRxRXTrArg6EqOakabHlia56_Ugb0g4z6SHmPkKJyoUdCZopJtQw" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="944" data-original-width="1543" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgB4ZicrJjEPYS7oSI_iCN21yeesdO8A67iuk3eDdWZ-PROsSandklPpvjom2_xEbqTMgS3HbJAjoFO3_WK2wX6NKZr7iiSV10S49TYlz14MUTcXU-6SXPDCdzNrBH8ypIfhkh3D3IRxRXTrArg6EqOakabHlia56_Ugb0g4z6SHmPkKJyoUdCZopJtQw"/></a></div>
Earlier this month, the <a href="https://www.frontlineclub.com/">Frontline Club</a> in London screened a new film on the challenge of getting accountability for crimes in Syria, followed by a discussion with the film-makers. <i><a href="https://www.bringingassadtojustice.com/">Bringing Assad to Justice</a></i> is the second major documentary about the Syrian conflict by Anne Daly and Ronan Tynan, of the independent Irish film team <a href="http://esperanza.ie/">Esperanza Productions</a>.<br />
<br />
The film has won several awards around the world since its launch in Berlin last year, including winner of best documentary at festivals in Toronto and New York, and at the African Human Rights film festival. This screening was particularly significant as the Frontline Club is a prestigious gathering place for international journalists and photographers, championing independent media and truthful investigative journalism.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: "suez one";">The crimes</span><br />
<br />
I confess that I was slightly dreading the screening—not of course meeting up with old friends and acquaintances, but revisiting the inevitable depiction of unimaginable atrocities, in what Roy Gutman in the film describes as “war crimes masquerading as a war.”<br />
<br />
And yes, we heard direct accounts of detention and torture from ex-detainees such as Anwar Al Bunni, Riyad Avlar and Majeda Khoury, sometimes vividly illustrated by the artist <a href="https://marcnelsonart.com/">Marc Nelson</a>; we saw the gruesome series of photographs of the dead, with their terrible injuries, as meticulously recorded by the Syrian regime, and smuggled out of Syria by the official <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/12/16/if-dead-could-speak/mass-deaths-and-torture-syrias-detention-facilities">code-named Caesar</a>; we saw again the visual testimony of the relentless regime bombing of hospitals from Waad al-Kateab, co-director of the Channel 4 film <a href="https://www.forsamafilm.com/"><i>For Sama</i></a>; we heard from <a href="http://www.reflextv.co.uk/">Paul Conroy</a>, war photographer and stalwart companion of the great war correspondent <a href="https://mariecolvin.org/">Marie Colvin</a>, about her deliberate targeting and assassination in February 2012 while working from the Homs Media Centre.<br />
<br />
For some in the audience, this was not new, but for others the shock was palpable. Syria has faded from the news in recent years, and in any case much of this material has not been well-reported in the mainstream—partly because of how difficult it is to watch and absorb. The film-makers do a brilliant job in presenting the nature of the regime’s response to civilian opposition, in its extraordinary barbarity, as an issue that needs to be confronted head–on by journalists.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.tobycadman.com/">Toby Cadman</a>, barrister at Guernica Chambers, suggests that the reason for the ferocity of such crimes is the lack of visible means of international accountability. The UN no longer functions as a check to human rights abuses by the state on its own people, because of the use of the veto on the UN Security Council. <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/international-development/people/mary-kaldor">Mary Kaldor</a>, author of <i>New and Old Wars</i>, reminds us that international law and its protocols, designed for wars between states, is an inadequate framework for a state at war with its own citizens, or where the strategy is the destruction of civil life and its institutions. As a consequence, Mouaz Moustafa of the <a href="https://www.syriantaskforce.org/">Syrian Emergency Task Force</a> describes the despair of those who recognised their dead family members in the Caesar pictures, to be told that there was no forum for redress for Syrian citizens. “Is Syrian blood of less worth?” they ask.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: "suez one";">The investigations</span><br />
<br />
In reply, the film traces the dedicated work by Syrians themselves in exile, aided by international journalists, lawyers, and archivists, to compile and examine the evidence smuggled out of Syria. Some of this was provided by ex officials of the regime, such as ‘Caesar’ who for over two and a half years in Damascus photographed the bodies of 11,000 dead detainees, labelled with their prison numbers, where held and where killed; and with the aid of the opposition left Syria with 55,000 photographs and other documents. <a href="https://caesar-fsg.org/author/ibrahim/">Ibrahim Alkasem</a>, director of the Caesar Files Group in Berlin, worked to arrange and archive these photographs in order to have the bodies identified by relatives. For example, the photographs were exhibited in Idlib, the last remaining opposition held area in Syria. As a result, 7,000 of the bodies have been identified by their families to date.<br />
<br />
Many thousands of regime documents, identifying its control and command structures, which fell into the hands of the opposition, were smuggled out by Syrian citizen journalists, and are now archived in a secret location in Europe by the <a href="https://cijaonline.org/">Commission for International Justice and Accountability</a> (CIJA). Nerma Jelacic, its Bosnian director, explains that these documents have exposed the regime’s blanket arrest policy, targeting even the lowest form of participation in mass demonstrations, as a “special mission” by order of Assad himself.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://cijaonline.org/who-we-are/stephen-rapp">Stephen J Rapp</a>, who was US Ambassador for War Crimes during the Obama presidency, and is currently Chair of CIJA’s Board of Commissioners, specifies the forensic analysis to which all these documents have been subjected, and he concludes that the evidence is “better than the allies held in Nuremberg.” Unlike Nazi Germany, “the Syrian system itself is producing the evidence.. of the ongoing machinery of death.”<br />
<br />
In addition Kristyan Benedict describes how testimony from Syrian survivors has helped the Forensic Architecture team, working with Amnesty International, to construct a map of the notorious <a href="https://saydnaya.amnesty.org/en/about.html">Saydnaya prison</a> where thousands were tortured and killed.<br />
<br />
There is also the open source evidence of indiscriminate bombings of civilians in opposition areas, contrary to international law, such as that filmed by tens of thousands of Syrian citizens and media centres, and analysed by experts such as <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/tag/syria/">Bellingcat</a>, or the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/visual-investigations-russia-syria"><i>New York Times</i> visual investigative team.</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: "suez one";">The court cases</span><br />
<br />
But, in the absence of an international criminal court or war crimes tribunal, where can such evidence be tested? The first case was in the US, when in 2016 <a href="https://cijaonline.org/news/2021/2/22/colvin-v-syrian-arab-republic-1">Marie Colvin’s family sued the Syrian regime for her murder</a>, using the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which allows victims to sue, in a US federal court, state-sponsored agents of terrorism for an extrajudicial killing. The Court found the regime directly responsible, using evidence leaked from regime defectors of their intent to directly target Marie Colvin following her CNN broadcast from Homs. Although the award to her family cannot currently be enforced, the finding of regime responsibility for an act of state terrorism is the first public indictment, and Paul Conroy ( witness in the trial) tells us that it led to an FBI criminal investigation.<br />
<br />
Secondly, lawyers turned to the European courts, using the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby the court of any state can prosecute a war crime committed elsewhere, based on the idea that some crimes are so serious that they affect the international community. Its purpose is to stop people who have committed such crimes from finding safe haven in another country.<br />
<br />
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/610654891?h=8716512f02&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="320" height="180" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">• Bringing Assad to Justice is <a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/bringingassadtojustice">available on Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
<br />
The first Syrian official to face trial was Anwar Raslan, the head of investigation in a Damascus intelligence branch, who sought asylum in Germany. And Germany was an ideal location for such a trial, given the large number of Syrian refugees living there. Raslan was recognised by Anwar Al Bunni in a refugee accommodation centre in Berlin as the man responsible for his torture, and so he gave evidence, one of fifty witnesses at the trial in Koblenz in 2020. Besides giving testimony himself, Anwar Al Bunni, through his organisation the <a href="https://sl-center.org/language/en/home_eng">Syrian Centre for Legal Studies and Research</a>, collected other compelling witness evidence against Raslan. Many of the witnesses in the Raslan trial knew Al Bunni through his work in defending them in Syria. So his participation, alongside other Syrian lawyers, such as Mazen Darwish of the <a href="https://scm.bz/en/">Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression</a>, was crucial in finding and encouraging witnesses.<br />
<br />
Documents from CIJA were used in the trial to prove Mr Raslan’s position of authority. Caesar’s evidence was also provided to the Court. At the time of filming, the trial was in progress, and we saw scenes inside and outside the court, where activists showed pictures of the victims. We also met Patrick Kroker of the <a href="https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/first-criminal-trial-worldwide-on-torture-in-syria-before-a-german-court/">ECCHR</a>, who represented the plaintiffs in the trial, working closely with Anwar Al Bunni’s organisation. Since the filming, Raslan and a minor official tried with him were both found guilty of crimes against humanity; Raslan was sentenced to life imprisonment.<br />
<br />
Patrick Kroker, lawyer in the Raslan case, has also filed a complaint against Saydnaya prison, using the evidence compiled by the Amnesty International team.<br />
<br />
Toby Cadman spoke of a case he is preparing against the Russian state, in the European Court of Human Rights, for the bombing of hospitals in Aleppo. He is using the Channel 4 film <i>For Sama</i> as evidence, as well as evidence from the <i>New York Times</i> visual investigation team. He urges journalists world-wide to report and investigate war crimes, to counter misinformation and to “give the public a sense of what is criminal in war.”<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%; font-family: "suez one";">Fighting disinformation and impunity</span><br />
<br />
The film concludes with a warning of increased danger for Syrian refugees, when there is pressure for them to return, and when in the absence of interest in other solutions, the regime is being normalised. Bringing an end to impunity, and the work of highlighting Assad’s crimes, becomes all the more urgent in this context.<br />
<br />
However, Anwar Al Bunni defines his work more broadly, as being “not just about Syria” but a signal to all dictators and human rights abusers that they are not safe from justice. “These court cases can send a message,” he says.<br />
<br />
There are other sections of the film, particularly concerning the White Helmets and the disinformation war against them, which are more fully dealt with elsewhere—see for example the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04sj2pt/episodes/downloads"><i>Mayday</i></a> podcast by the BBC. <i>Bringing Assad to Justice</i> is nearly two hours long, and could have been more focused, I felt, but I understand why the film-makers wanted to include the issue of misinformation campaigns, given the talk in Europe and in the region of normalisation and refoulement of refugees.<br />
<br />
There was a lively discussion afterwards, with the film-makers and with Paul Conroy who had featured in the film. I was particularly moved by the presence of Nerma Jernacic who expressed her passion in the work of CIJA as arising from her realisation of the relative failure of Bosnians to document the human rights abuses against them. This made her understand the importance of the archival work of CIJA.<br />
<br />
I loved Toby Cadman’s story of what Ahmad Helmi, a former detainee and now campaigner, had said to him about the fight against impunity: “It’s one sock at a time. If you ask a child to clean up her room it’s overwhelming. So concentrate on one sock at a time.”<br />
<br />
The film-makers gave an eloquent response to the question, what inspired you to make this film? “Our first film about Syria (<i>The Impossible Revolution</i>) described a peaceful uprising and the terrifying regime response. Our second film was the answer to our first—what can we do about this?”<br />
<br />
And what they have done is an amazing achievement. So I left feeling hopeful, having heard the ongoing story of the revolution, now conducted by Syrian exiles and their allies worldwide in an ongoing battle for dignity and justice, in full faith with the original ideals of 2011.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">The full film, Bringing Assad to Justice, is <a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/bringingassadtojustice">available to rent or buy on Vimeo</a>.</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-23388378974504158912021-11-25T02:11:00.013-08:002021-11-25T03:30:12.222-08:00Channel deaths: We need safe routes now<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 130%; font-family: "suez one";">Six ways to create safe routes and save lives</span><br />
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We want to express our deep sorrow at the recent deaths of those trying to cross the Channel to claim asylum in the UK. From our solidarity work with Syrians we well understand what catastrophes they were fleeing from, and the additional anxiety and horror to their families of this new catastrophe.<br />
<br />
We are sickened by official responses: the expressions of shock, as if this tragedy were not an inevitable consequence of government policies; the British and French blaming each other; both Government and Opposition blaming the smugglers who only exist because of the absence of safe routes to asylum.<br />
<br />
We are sickened especially by Priti Patel’s lies about people crossing the Channel, describing them as ‘economic migrants,’ saying they are ‘<a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/event/6064/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/">elbowing out the women and children</a>,’ even though the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/new-refugee-council-analysis-shows-most-people-arriving-by-small-boats-across-the-channel-are-likely-be-fleeing-persecution/">Refugee Council</a> has shown <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/new-refugee-council-analysis-shows-most-people-arriving-by-small-boats-across-the-channel-are-likely-be-fleeing-persecution/">from Home Office figures</a> that 91% of channel crossers since January 2020 have been from ten nationalities with a strong likelihood of being granted asylum.<br />
<br />
Most are fleeing from authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and Africa, tolerated if not supported by Western governments. The proposed solution of another Immigration and Nationality bill, which threatens to undermine the right to asylum and breach international law, will be ineffectual against such ‘push factors’ and will serve only to promote a climate of hysteria and populist authoritarianism in our own countries.<br />
<br />
What we ask for instead is an acceptance of current realities and the creation of safe routes to claim asylum in Europe and in the UK, such as:<br />
<ul>
<li />The establishment of a UK consulate in northern France to accept and process asylum claims, with particular categories (those with family or other connections with the UK) given priority;
<li />The resumption of resettlement schemes from countries neighbouring the zones of conflict, under the auspices of the UN;
<li />A workable policy of refugee family reunion;
<li />Restoration of the ‘Dubs’ scheme to accept our share of unaccompanied minors in Europe;
<li />A process for urgently processing claims from persons at particular risk, such as military or interpreters who have worked for British occupation forces abroad, or NGOs funded by us;
<li />The allocation of sufficient resources for a humane and speedy asylum process.
</ul>
It’s the least we can do.<br />
<br />
<i>Syria Solidarity UK</i>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-73976504565698981732021-06-25T02:09:00.009-07:002021-06-25T05:36:44.446-07:00Amnesty vigil at Danish Embassy calls for continued protection of Syrian refugees<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<span style="font-family: "suez one";">On World Refugee Day, 20 June, Amnesty held a vigil at the Danish Embassy in London calling for continued protection of Syrian refugees.</span><br />
<br />
Between 2020 and 1 April 2021, Denmark has revoked or not renewed the residence permits of 380 Syrians, claiming that certain parts of Syria (Damascus and the Rif region) are “safe”. While many of them are waiting for their cases to be finally decided in appeal, 39 Syrians have already been put in a “return position”, meaning that they are at risk of being returned to Syria. Amnesty International believes that any return to Syria would be a violation of the international obligation of non-refoulement, which prohibits states from transferring people to a place where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations. <span style="font-family: "suez one";"><a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/urgent-actions/denmark-protect-syrians-risk-return">Read more from Amnesty.</a></span><br />
<br />
The vigil was physically attacked by a lone counter-demonstrator, presumed to be from the Far Right. After he had broken a banner pole, he was restrained an removed, and the vigil continued with speeches.<br />
<br />
Our words to the vigil:<br />
<br />
“Greetings and solidarity from Syria Solidarity UK. Three of us spoke to the Danish ambassador here on seventh May when we presented <a href="https://www.syriauk.org/2021/05/protest-at-danish-governments.html">a letter of protest from eight UK Syrian organisations</a>.<br />
<br />
“He said: ‘We had a moment of difficulty in 2015 when many asylum seekers came.’<br />
<br />
“We said that was a moment of grace for Europe, when Europe opened its borders to Syrians, and it’s a shame that European leaders could not live up to it. Since then, there’s been a race to the bottom on asylum across Europe, and Denmark is in the lead. We are very afraid that other other countries will follow that bad example.<br />
<br />
“We are not proud of what’s happening already in the UK, with Priti Patel leading an assault to asylum rights, including the use of old army barracks as refugee camps.<br />
<br />
“But the good news is that—just as Syrians walked bravely through Europe’s borders in 2015—they are now organising and leading a fight back from the camps, with the help of dedicated NGOs like Care4Calais and others. Pennally is closed and we’ll see what happens in Napier after the great high court victory in June.<br />
<br />
“And they’re leading the protests in Denmark too.<br />
<br />
“Wherever there are Syrians there’s a fight back. The revolution still lives in Idlib but also in Copenhagen and in London!”<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-36957760027365334342021-05-07T08:49:00.010-07:002021-06-25T02:09:48.933-07:00Protest at Danish government’s withdrawal of residence permits from Syrian refugees<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<br />
Representatives of eight UK Syrian organisations presented a letter this morning to the Danish Ambassador, to protest at Danish Government actions in withdrawing the residence permits of Syrian refugees.<br />
<br />
Danish authorities have withdrawn or not extended the residence permits of <a href="https://drc.ngo/about-us/for-the-media/press-releases/2021/4/drc-s-reaction-to-denmark-s-decision-to-revoke-syrian-refugees-residence-permits/">more than 250 Syrian refugees</a>, justifying their actions with a report claiming that conditions are now safe in Damascus. <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/19/denmark-flawed-country-origin-reports-lead-flawed-refugee-policies">Experts cited in the Danish report have rejected its conclusions</a>, and say their views have been misrepresented.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";"><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pTJBf_PgBtQpajo8MNuNOQP6yD_rsjQD/view?usp=sharing">Read the letter in full</a></span> (PDF)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";"><a href="https://act.thesyriacampaign.org/sign/syria-not-safe-denmark/">Add your voice: Tell them Syria is not safe</a></span><br />
<br />
The letter stated:<br />
<blockquote>This action by Denmark is based on a false assessment of the situation in Syria, and is in breach of international law and the principle of non-refoulement, which guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm.<br />
<br />
It is in conflict with the stated policy of the European Union as laid out by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs in November 2020:<br />
<br />
<i>Conditions inside Syria at present do not lend themselves to the promotion of large-scale voluntary return, in conditions of safety and dignity in line with international law. The limited returns that have taken place illustrate the many obstacles and threats still faced by returning internally displaced persons and refugees, in particular forced conscription, indiscriminate detention, forced disappearances, torture, physical and sexual violence, discrimination in access to housing, land and property as well as poor or inexistent basic services.</i><br />
<br />
The situation in Syria has not improved in the months since that judgement was made.</blockquote>
<br />
On receiving the letter, Ambassador Lars Thuesen said, “We are not forcing people to go back to Syria at this point.”<br />
<br />
“But you are putting people in legal limbo,” replied Clara Connolly of Syria Solidarity UK.<br />
<br />
Douna Haj Ahmed of the Syrian British Council said:<br />
<blockquote>“Bombing and hostilities are not the only reasons that forced Syrians to flee their homes. Thousands of Syrians died under torture in the Assad regime’s prisons. Every refugee who is returned to Syria is under the threat of arbitrary arrest and death under torture, or of forced recruitment.<br />
<br />
“Will the Danish government bear responsibility for the disappearance of any Syrian refugee deported to Syria, after entering the Syrian territories? Returning refugees is a crime against humanity and will remain linked historically to the decision of the Danish government.”</blockquote>
<br />
Afraa Hashem of Action for Sama said:<br />
<blockquote>“Syria is not safe as long as the Assad regime is in it, and it is responsible for the crimes that occur in Syria.
As a refugee like the Syrian refugees in Denmark, I need legal stability so that I can continue my life by studying and working, but I will not reach this stability if I feel that my residence is threatened by non-renewal.”</blockquote>
<br />
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<br />
<i>Photographs by Steve Eason</i><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-33627870532251539952020-11-04T04:39:00.012-08:002020-11-04T05:09:07.232-08:00Westminster Hall debate on the humanitarian situation in Syria<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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<br />
There were some nine thousand words spoken in yesterday’s Westminster Hall debate on the humanitarian situation in Syria, but it seemed hard to find one word that was new, despite this being the first Commons debate on Syria since February.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Read a <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2020-11-03/debates/915133EC-13D7-4C1A-9543-D1741BEF8435/SyriaHumanitarianSituation">transcript of the debate</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Watch a <a href="https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/22c55a7d-53ea-4c44-9ba7-174c5d92ca90?in=16:28:00&out=17:29:30">video of the debate</a>.</span><br />
<br />
All of the contributors tried to paint vivid pictures of the horror and despair. While these were accurate as far as they went, they were not new and not very helpful. Despair with no remedy will not move people to action.<br />
<br />
What remedies were discussed? <span style="font-family: "suez one";">Alison McGovern</span> echoed the late Jo Cox’s call for the UK’s diplomatic, defence and development strategies to be united in aiming to protect civilians, but didn’t propose specific actions.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Tom Tugendhat</span> called for the UK to work with allies in the region, even where those allies are problematic. That is of course already happening, but in what way and to what end is not always clear.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Wera Hobhouse</span> focused on the Turkish invasion of Afrin, northwest Syria, and the displacement of very many Kurdish people from there, as raised with her by Kurdish constituents. Wera Hobhouse had the date of the invasion confused—it was not at the start of this year but the start of 2018. The beginning of this year saw Turkey prominent in a different role, helping defend Syrians in Idlib against the Assad regime.<br />
<br />
Turkey is one of the problematic allies that Tom Tugendhat alluded to earlier. It has backed unaccountable armed groups that have carried out atrocities, notably against Kurdish people, but it has also given limited protection to millions of Syrians displaced to Idlib by the Assad regime’s deliberate campaign of killing and displacement.<br />
<br />
Arguably a major factor in how bad the Syrian situation has become has been the division between Turkey and its NATO allies. The fault for this does not lie on one side alone. In the Coalition war against ISIS, because of the desire by the US government to avoid direct conflict with the Assad regime, the US and UK gave military support to the PYD, an offshoot of the PKK which is an enemy of the Turkish government. This was done under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF.<br />
<br />
The remedy to having problematic allies must include greater engagement focused on increasing accountability for all forces on the ground: Turkish-backed forces, the SDF, US and UK forces. This is essential for any sustainable outcome in those areas still outside Assad regime control. In light of this need, it is unfortunate that at the same time as a few MPs were debating Syria in Westminster Hall, the UK Government was pushing forward the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/boris-johnson-war-crimes-torture-overseas-operations-bill-b1564470.html">Overseas Operations Bill</a> in the House of Commons to limit accountability for UK forces.<br />
<br />
In his contribution to the debate, <span style="font-family: "suez one";">Anthony Mangnall</span> talked about sexual violence, and the need for accountability. For these and all the other crimes of this war, accountability must ultimately mean accountability to those directly impacted, not just limited accountability to foreign or international courts.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Rushanara Ali</span> and <span style="font-family: "suez one";">Jim Shannon</span> both talked about refugees, one about refugees in the region, and the other about refugees resettled in the UK. Both also talked about the coronavirus threat to people inside Syria and to refugees in the region. Jim Shannon made a practical suggestion to send some of the unused ventilators in the UK to areas of Syria that are in great need.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">David Linden</span> focused on how UK anti-immigration policies make it dangerous and deadly for refugees to reach safety, even when they have family in the UK. And <span style="font-family: "suez one";">Anna McMorrin</span> lamented the drop in UK aid to Syria this year, and called for it to be maintained.<br />
<br />
When you look at UK aid policy alongside the UK’s often brutal immigration policy, it can look as though the UK’s aim in giving aid is less about alleviating suffering and more about containment.<br />
<br />
Anna McMorrin questioned the effectiveness of sanctions in deterring Assad regime and Russian forces from bombing hospitals, schools, and markets. In fact, there have been no UK sanctions imposed on Russian individuals for crimes in Syria.<br />
<br />
The UK currently implements EU sanctions on Syria, and <span style="font-family: "suez one";">James Cleverly</span> repeated the Government’s undertaking that they will implement their own sanctions regime after the Brexit transition period.<br />
<br />
Last month Human Rights Watch published a <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/10/15/targeting-life-idlib/syrian-and-russian-strikes-civilian-infrastructure">report on Syrian and Russian Strikes on Civilian infrastructure in Idlib</a>. They named several Russian officers as well as Syrian officers with command responsibility for targeting civilians. The Human Rights Watch list overlaps with <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/11/wanted-for-targeting-hospitals.html">names that Syria Solidarity UK published last year</a>. The UK Government should now sanction these individuals without further delay:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">General of the Army Sergei Shoigu</span>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">General of the Army Valery Gerasimov</span>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy</span>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">Col.-Gen. Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin</span>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">Col.-Gen. Andrei Nikolaevich Serdyukov</span>
<li /><span style="font-family: "suez one";">Lt-Gen. Alexander Yuryevich Chaiko</span>.
</ul>
<br />
It was disappointing that in the nine thousand words of debate yesterday, there was little on the UK’s military role, or the particular humanitarian responsibilities that flow from it. In <a href="https://twitter.com/SyriaUK/status/1323573705235177472">our Twitter thread</a> prior to the debate, we pointed to two areas of responsibility: <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2020/06/rukban-camp-child-in-need-of-urgent.html">Rukban camp</a> and <a href="https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/08/al-raqqas-destroyed-houses-who-compensates-their-owners/">Raqqa</a>.<br />
<br />
We would have liked MPs to ask why the Coalition military strategy in the Tanf zone in southeast Syria leaves out the humanitarian component, failing for years now to fulfil legal duties to civilians in Rukban camp under Geneva Convention IV Article 55.<br />
<br />
We would have liked MPs to ask why civilian victims of the Coalition strategy in Raqqa—a strategy that bottled them up with ISIS and then pulverised the city street by street—why those civilian victims can’t get the most basic compensation, and still live in ruins?<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-11809768801889274032020-08-17T08:09:00.023-07:002020-08-19T01:42:37.274-07:00Atrocity prevention needs to be at the centre of UK strategy<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<br />
The UK Government is currently carrying out an Integrated Review of Security,
Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.
<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/integrated-review-call-for-evidence">Read more about the review, and how to submit evidence, here</a>. The deadline for submissions is Friday 11 September 2020.<br />
<br />
Syria Solidarity UK was pleased to contribute to a joint submission to the
review by members of the
<a href="https://protectionapproaches.org/ap-working-group">Atrocity Prevention Working Group</a>. Read the
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vOw06f0aYgp1Ar46XilF_MUGUMRlP1ip/view?usp=sharing">full submission (PDF)</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Why should UK national strategy focus on atrocity prevention?</span><br />
<br />
The core aim of UK defence and security strategy is to preserve the security and prosperity of the population of the UK and its citizens abroad. An effective defence and security strategy requires that atrocity prevention be included at its centre as an essential part of achieving this aim.<br />
<br />
States and non state groups that enable, foment, or carry out mass atrocities are leading threats to UK security and prosperity. Their actions are not contained by borders. Not only do mass atrocities drive mass forced displacement, but attacks on personal security, social cohesion and rule of law in one state repeatedly come to undermine personal security, social cohesion, and rule of law internationally. States and non state groups involved in mass atrocities have an interest in undermining rule of law worldwide in order to maintain impunity and power, whether through attacks on international institutions by such states or through terror acts by such non state groups. The deliberate exporting of disinformation and the strategic exporting of corrupt practices are other aspects of this dynamic, threatening UK economic and political well being as well as the personal security of UK residents and citizens.<br />
<br />
Acting consistently to prevent further mass atrocities and to tackle ongoing mass atrocities should therefore be a strategic imperative for the UK. This requires a review not just of how positive action by the UK can be timely and effective, but also of how current UK policies and actions contribute to enabling atrocities by allowing impunity for perpetrators.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">How the UK fails to prevent atrocities in Syria</span><br />
<br />
From the start of the current war in Syria, the UK has failed to put atrocity prevention at the centre of its response. Instead, the UK and its allies have focused on preventing WMD proliferation, focused on counter-terrorism, and focused on containing the effects of the conflict within the region but without actively protecting civilians or stopping large scale violence. The last nine years have seen failures in all these areas, failures that could have been limited or even prevented had the UK focused from the start on atrocity prevention.<br />
<br />
Most UK military action in Syria is defined as collective defence of the state of Iraq against ISIS, not as humanitarian intervention, and civilian protection has been a secondary consideration to the primary goal of defeating ISIS. The UK military is tasked with avoiding civilian harm in Syria rather than with actively preventing civilian harm.<br />
<br />
Humanitarian intervention was invoked by the
UK Government only in 2018 <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2018/04/questions-to-ask-after-uk-action-in.html">to bomb chemical weapons facilities</a>, but given the far greater number of civilian casualties inflicted by the Assad regime’s use of high explosive than its use of chemical weapons, this intervention was clearly less an act of civilian protection than of counter proliferation. The helicopters and jets used by the Assad regime for both chemical and conventional bombing of civilians were all left untouched by the UK’s 2018 action.<br />
<br />
At the same time as UK aircraft were in Syrian airspace to fight ISIS, <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2017/12/questions-for-minister.html">the UK failed to act in 2016-2018 to airdrop aid to Syrian civilians besieged by the Assad regime</a>. In that same period, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38450664">DFID was funding the use of humanitarian drones for medical supplies in African countries</a>, and UN agencies were carrying out airdrops to regime held Deir Ezzor using <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2017/01/confirmed-world-food-programme-used.html">JPADS remote guided parachutes</a>. These technologies could have been used to at the very least bring medical aid to civilians suffering under Assad’s starvation sieges. <a href="http://www.appgfriendsofsyria.org/2017/02/can-drones-break-sieges-lead-story-in.html">Detailed viable proposals for large scale airdrops of food aid using drone aircraft</a> were also put forward and rejected by the UK Government.<br />
<br />
The UK’s failure is ongoing. As we have repeatedly highlighted, the UK-US Coalition and UK ally Jordan have been <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/04/the-uk-is-complicit-in-crime-against.html">complicit in the forced displacement of civilians from Rukban camp</a>, located in an area under Coalition military control.<br />
<br />
The UK has failed to bring to trial British-born individuals accused of complicity in atrocities, some of whom are currently imprisoned by UK ally the SDF, a non-state armed group. The UK has failed to investigate and charge British-born Asma Assad for complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and financial crimes where the UK has jurisdiction over UK nationals abroad. The UK has failed to impose sanctions on <a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/11/wanted-for-targeting-hospitals.html">Russian individuals with command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity</a> in Syria.<br />
<br />
UK-US Coalition forces have <a href="https://english.enabbaladi.net/archives/2020/08/al-raqqas-destroyed-houses-who-compensates-their-owners/">failed to make themselves accountable to civilian survivors</a> of the Coalition’s military campaign in <a href="https://raqqa.amnesty.org/">Raqqa</a> and elsewhere, thereby worsening the normalisation of mass violence in Syria, and reinforcing an expectation of impunity for perpetrators on all sides.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">The consequences of failure</span><br />
<br />
Today ISIS no longer controls significant territory in Syria, but the Assad regime’s reign of terror continues, with mass detention and torture of civilians, secret executions, and the forcible displacement of half the country’s population. Assad’s military is still carrying out attacks on civilian homes in a last pocket of opposition controlled Syria in the northwest. And the
regime’s deliberate targeting of civilians, of homes, schools, and hospitals, has driven millions of people to flee across borders.<br />
<br />
As long as the regime remains in power, and as long as the various military forces in Syria can act with impunity, the vast majority of Syrian refugees won’t willingly return. Yet here in the UK, we find members of the same government that failed to prevent atrocities in Syria now making political attacks on refugees who try to find safety in the UK.<br />
<br />
Political attacks on refugees are damaging to refugees themselves, damaging to their prospects of integration in the UK, and damaging to the UK’s wider social cohesion. Ultimately this dehumanising
rhetoric risks setting conditions for future atrocities here in the UK.<br />
<br />
Precedents set in Syria have normalised mass violence by states, normalised the dehumanising of survivors and the deliberate fracturing of societies. Today, no continent is safe, and we see a very real prospect of worse to come.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">For a safe and secure future, the UK needs to protect people from mass atrocities.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">The UK needs to make accountable those responsible for atrocities, and UK forces and agencies need to be accountable to affected populations.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">And the UK needs to work to prevent future atrocities, at home as well as abroad.</span><br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-1858661471904318882020-06-05T07:00:00.003-07:002020-11-04T04:38:06.045-08:00Rukban camp: A child in need of urgent medical attention<meta content="summary_large_image" name="twitter:card"></meta>
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Urgent medical attention for a child with bleeding – Rukban camp<br />
05.06.2020<br />
<br />
To: The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa<br />
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office<br />
<br />
<br />
We are writing to you to express our grave concern about a five-year-old child, in Rukban camp, with suspected severe inflammation (glomerulonephritis) in the kidneys. This condition is fatal if not treated immediately.
Your help in March saved the lives of two pregnant women and their babies who were delivered at the US base. All that is needed to save this child’s life is one single medication - this medication can be easily provided via the US base. We urge you to help save this child’s life.<br />
<br />
Only a few days ago, seven-day-old Noor tragically died of dehydration. Noor’s life could have been saved by one doctor and a couple of bags of IV fluids. Rukban camp has no access to health services. Residents have been barred from access to the UNICEF clinic since Jordan closed its border and since then have been left without medical care.<br />
<br />
We have written to the UK government multiple times warning about the imminent but preventable risk of loss of lives if no access to emergency healthcare is provided. Noor’s death was avoidable, and the death of this child currently suffering with severe kidney inflammation can certainly be prevented if medication can be provided.<br />
<br />
Rukban camp is inside a 55-kilometre radius zone around Tanf base controlled by Coalition forces, including the Royal Air Force.<br />
<br />
The UK government’s involvement in Tanf, its position in the Coalition, and its close relationship with both the Jordanian and United states governments, not only give it the opportunity to act but make the duty to act inescapable.<br />
<br />
The military control of Tanf is part of a Coalition operation in Syria which claims legal justification under Article 51 of the UN Charter as collective self-defence of Iraq, as set out in a letter to the UN Secretary General on 23 September 2014 from then US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.<br />
<br />
We therefore ask you as a matter of urgency:<br />
<ul>
<li>To provide temporary access to healthcare services for the residents until the Jordanian border re-opens.
</li><li>To provide medication for this child and facilitate blood tests to save his life.
</li></ul>
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have condemned the situation in Rukban camps; a woman and three children have died in the past 18 months due to lack of access to medical care, but the death of Noor a few days ago raises the death toll to four children now.<br />
<br />
We call on you to act immediately to provide emergency healthcare services to avoid the death of more children.<br />
<br />
Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire<br />
<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/06/rukban-camp-case-study-in-reviewing-uks.html">Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy</a><br />
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/04/the-uk-is-complicit-in-crime-against.html">The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp</a><br />
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-22168255987170058902020-04-26T08:23:00.005-07:002020-08-20T10:11:54.109-07:00Covid-19 threat to Rukban camp civilians: Letter to UK Government<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreak and urgent medical evacuation – Rukban camp<br />
21.04.2020 <br />
<br />
To: The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa<br />
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office<br />
<br />
<br />
We are writing to you to express thanks for your help with facilitating the safe delivery of the two pregnant women last month. The women and their babies are healthy and well, and one of the babies has been named after one of the activists who helped raise concerns about the dangerous situation these mothers were in. The camp, however, remains with no access to healthcare services and we have grave concern over the lack of preparation for a Covid-19 outbreak in the Rukban camp.<br />
<br />
Since the closure of the Jordan Syria border in February, residents have had no access to healthcare services at all. I would like to highlight that currently there is an urgent case of a 4-month-old boy at high risk of renal failure due to a congenital anomaly of his renal system. He has urinary opening in the abdomen and suffers with dehydration due to lack of feeding, he has stopped nursing and formula milk is scarce. He is at risk of dying from dehydration and renal failure within days. This infant needs urgent medical evacuation as his condition is critical. His family are unable to return to regime areas due to risk of being detained. There are other cases in the camp of chronic health conditions – these people will be at high risk of suffering strokes and heart attacks as they do not receive regular monitoring or medications. They are unable to return to regime areas as that puts them at risk of detention and torture. It is well-documented that residents who have left in the past have been forcibly disappeared by the regime.<br />
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have condemned the situation in Rukban camp; a woman and three children have died in the past 18 months due to lack of access to medical care. It has been predicted that an outbreak of Covid- 19 in refugee camps – and these are usually much better equipped than the Rukban camp - will have devastating effects and much higher mortality rates than in other settings.<br />
<br />
The UK government’s involvement in Tanf, its position in the Coalition, and its close relationship with both the Jordanian and United states governments, not only give the opportunity to act but make the duty to act inescapable.<br />
<br />
We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:<br />
<ul>
<li />Ensure that Covid-19 outbreak preparations for the Rukban camp, including testing arrangements, are coordinated without requiring residents to leave the de-escalation zone putting them at risk of detention by the regime.
<li />Arrange for an urgent medical evacuation for the infant mentioned above.
<li />Arrange for primary healthcare services and medication supplies for residents with chronic health conditions.
</ul>
<br />
Please act with the highest levels of urgency to prevent avoidable deaths in Rukban camp.<br />
<br />
Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire<br />
<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/06/rukban-camp-case-study-in-reviewing-uks.html">Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy</a><br />
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/04/the-uk-is-complicit-in-crime-against.html">The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp</a><br />
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-24876206423117064542020-04-26T08:18:00.001-07:002020-04-26T08:28:25.970-07:00Covid-19 threat to Rukban camp civilians: Letter to WHO/UNICEF/UNHCR<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreak and urgent medical evacuation — Rukban camp<br />
21.04.2020<br />
<br />
To:<br />
Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General<br />
Mr. Kevin Kennedy, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis<br />
Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees<br />
Ms.Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF<br />
Mr. Manuel Fontaine, Director, Office of Emergency Programmes, UNICEF<br />
Ms. Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Section, Programme Division,UNICEF<br />
Mr. Ted Chaiban, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, UNICEF<br />
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General<br />
Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA<br />
Dr Jorge Martinez, World Health Organization Health Cluster Coordinator<br />
Dr Mahmoud Daher, World Health Organization, Emergency Health Coordinator<br />
<br />
<br />
We, the undersigned Syrian and international organisations, are writing to you to express our grave concern over the lack of preparation for a Covid-19 outbreak in the Rukban camp and the WHO’s decision to set up testing for Rukban residents outside the de-escalation zone. Testing outside the de-escalation zone will force vulnerable and ill people to choose between getting tested or being forced back into regime areas, putting them at risk of forced disappearances, arrest, and detention. Forced disappearances of residents who have left in the past is well-documented.<br />
<br />
The UN and the WHO have a responsibility of ensuring the measures they take to contain the pandemic do not put the same people they are trying to protect at an even graver danger of being detained or killed.<br />
<br />
Rukban camp is inside a 55-kilometre radius zone around Tanf base controlled by Coalition forces. Until February the only healthcare service the residents had was the clinic run by UNHCR, UNICEF, and UFPA, which saw an average of 2800 patients a month. This clinic is now shut, and residents have no access to healthcare services. It would not be impossible for the WHO and the UNHCR to coordinate with the Coalition forces to ensure that the camp is well-prepared for an outbreak, including supplying testing kits and coordinating sample transport to the nearest testing lab.<br />
<br />
I would also like to highlight that currently there is an urgent case of a 4-month-old boy at high risk of renal failure due to a congenital anomaly of his renal system. He has a urinary opening in the abdomen and suffers with dehydration due to lack of feeding. He has stopped nursing and formula milk is scarce. He is at risk of dying from dehydration and renal failure within days. This infant needs urgent medical evacuation as his condition is critical. His family are unable to return to regime areas due to risk of being detained. There are other cases in the camp of chronic health conditions – these people will be at high risk of suffering strokes and heart attacks as they do not receive regular monitoring or medications. They are unable to return to regime areas as that puts them at risk of detention and torture. It is well-documented that residents who have left in the past have been forcibly disappeared by the regime.<br />
<br />
We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:<br />
<ul>
<li />Ensure that Covid-19 outbreak preparations for Rukban camp including testing arrangements are coordinated without requiring residents to leave the de-escalation zone putting them at risk of detention by the regime.
<li />Arrange for an urgent medical evacuation for the infant mentioned above.
<li />Arrange for primary healthcare services and medication supplies for residents with chronic health conditions.
</ul>
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have condemned the situation in the Rukban camp; a woman and three children have died in the past 18 months due to lack of access to medical care. It has been predicted that an outbreak of Covid- 19 in refugee camps, usually much better equipped than the Rukban camp, will have devastating effects and much higher mortality rates than in other settings.<br />
<br />
Please act with the highest levels of urgency to prevent avoidable deaths in the Rukban camp.<br />
<br />
<br />
Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire<br />
<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/06/rukban-camp-case-study-in-reviewing-uks.html">Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy</a><br />
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/04/the-uk-is-complicit-in-crime-against.html">The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp</a><br />
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.<br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-48683185978643165812020-03-27T14:52:00.002-07:002020-04-02T05:50:29.967-07:00Urgent call for medical evacuations from Rukban camp<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<br />
Four women with high-risk pregnancies in Rukban camp need caesarean sections imminently. Rukban camp has no access to health services bar a small mud-hut clinic run by a few nurses.<br />
<br />
US and UK Coalition forces control the area around Rukban camp and have a legal duty to civilians under Geneva Convention IV. Below is our letter to the UK Government.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">PLEASE HELP</span> by alerting your MP.<br />
<br />
You can email your MP via <a href="https://www.writetothem.com/">www.writetothem.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">UPDATE 30 March 2020:</span> Response by Minister of State for Middle East and North Africa added below.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">UPDATE 2 April 2020:</span> Two women have now had caesarean sections in Tanf base, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/special-forces-deliver-babies-for-refugees-jc9wbv60c">Richard Spencer reports in the <i>Times</i></a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>The second woman, whose two previous children were born by caesarean section which meant giving birth naturally would have been dangerous, arrived at the camp yesterday, but again the US refused to help. Dr Abdulkareem said the US commander eventually agreed to repeat the operation so long as campaigners did not ask for help for anybody else. The second woman also gave birth to a daughter.<br />
<br />
“They did it as a one-off and don’t want it to be repeated,” Dr Abdulkareem said. “The US and the UK, which is a senior partner as well there, are evading responsibility.”</blockquote>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FLiyfrMt8fDNDFHGWYIBfP7HFwz3G4qF" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; max-width: 40%;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-DjBy_38-HZ7ObjY-zTarr1zGgFklCc45mVgUbrAc2gGrIzGkqMk0Y18hGodzI4uT27tAUUYPTxeco3tsNOW5mwzq8vGRRPG60lmVO9LPr0UHJs_rvp5KpyUUIn1B1yjAuYv1MA0Fys4/s1600/Call_for_Rukban_medical_evacuations_800.png" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="1000" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "suez one";">Urgent evacuation of four women with high-risk pregnancies</span><br />
<br />
27.03.2020<br />
<br />
[<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FLiyfrMt8fDNDFHGWYIBfP7HFwz3G4qF">PDF version</a>]<br />
<br />
To:<br />
The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa<br />
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office<br />
<br />
We are writing to you to express our grave concern over the dire situation of four women with high-risk pregnancies, in Rukban camp, these women need caesarean sections imminently. Rukban camp has no access to health services bar a small mud-hut clinic run by a few nurses. They have been barred from access to the UNICEF clinic since Jordan closed its border. Two of these women have lost children due to lack of access to healthcare, one of them precisely due to the inability to have a caesarean section last pregnancy.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, one of the women went into labour and after an extremely difficult and risky labour, her baby needed resuscitation due to respiratory distress and is still in a critical condition. Another mother is 12 days overdue today, this poses a very high risk to both the mother and baby. It is medically established that there’s a sharp increase in risk of fetal death at day 14 after the due date due to the inability of the placenta to sustain the fetus any longer, hence all obstetric guidelines dictate that women must be delivered at day 14 after their due date at the latest to avoid sudden fetal death. Day 14 for this woman is this Sunday after which there’s an exponential increase of risk of death to the unborn baby.<br />
<br />
Rukban camp is inside a 55-kilometre radius zone around Tanf base controlled by Coalition forces, including the Royal Air Force.<br />
This military occupation is part of a Coalition operation in Syria which claims legal justification under Article 51 of the UN Charter as collective self-defence of Iraq, as set out in a letter to the UN Secretary General on 23 September 2014 from then US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power.<br />
<br />
Under Article 55 of the Geneva Convention IV the UK is under legal obligation to ensure residents of Rukban have access to food and healthcare services.<br />
<br />
Article 55 of the Geneva Convention IV states that: To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.<br />
<br />
We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Evacuate these women within the next 48 hours from Tanf to hospitals in a safe location to be treated and to deliver their babies safely.</li>
</ul>
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have condemned the situation in Rukban camps; 1 woman and 3 children have died in the past 18 months due to lack of access to medical care.<br />
<br />
We call on you to evacuate these women within the next 48 hours, otherwise their lives and their unborn babies lives are at risk.<br />
<br />
Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">MINISTERIAL RESPONSE:</span><br />
<br />
30 March 2020<br />
<br />
Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire<br />
<br />
<br />
Dear Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Bronwen Griffiths and Hamish de Bretton-Gordon,<br />
<br />
Thank you for your letter of 27 March about evacuating women from Rukban camp for Internally Displaced Persons in southern Syria.<br />
<br />
I am sorry to hear about the women you describe with high risk pregnancies; of course I appreciate the severity of this situation. The UK is in regular communications with the UN and has continued to express concern, including in multilateral fora such as the UN Security Council and bilaterally with Russian counterparts, at the conditions in Rukban, where some 12,000 people still shelter and reports continue of a regime-imposed seige. We have pressed for the Assad regime to allow humanitarian aid access from Damascus which, although allowed only intermittently, remains the most appropriate route.<br />
<br />
We do not accept that the UK has legal responsibility for Rukban. The UK is not an occupying power in Syria and Al-Tanf is a US military base. We have passed your urgent request to the US military to see if there is any way they can assist, but as you will be aware, the Covid-19 situation has complicated what was already a very difficult humanitarian situation in Rukban. The global strain on healthcare and newly introduced limits on travel will only add to the challenge.<br />
<br />
On 25 March, I echoed UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen’s call for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria, in response to this new threat. Ultimately, a UN-led political solution is the only way to resolve the conflict. In the immediate term, however, I hope these women and their children, along with all those in Rukban, are able to access the support they need.<br />
<br />
The Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP<br />
Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/06/rukban-camp-case-study-in-reviewing-uks.html">Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy</a><br />
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.syriauk.org/2019/04/the-uk-is-complicit-in-crime-against.html">The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp</a><br />
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2PHUjzr1dXq1sgaRDrMAHKccxT5y1Y5jLcIg64lFDuT1iIyqtQ-A3G5ejC5ryUSrCCfM-08KhfofyQS3Am8AccRZ8Bg88PV3VZopScQzpPhG57iEjPFj-xeDUypqGNsuxNsDa4-JTHdd/s1600/Rukban+Camp+and+UK+responsibility.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_2PHUjzr1dXq1sgaRDrMAHKccxT5y1Y5jLcIg64lFDuT1iIyqtQ-A3G5ejC5ryUSrCCfM-08KhfofyQS3Am8AccRZ8Bg88PV3VZopScQzpPhG57iEjPFj-xeDUypqGNsuxNsDa4-JTHdd/s1600/Rukban+Camp+and+UK+responsibility.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-32274795126219160172020-03-26T02:27:00.003-07:002020-03-27T14:52:59.335-07:00To DFID on Coronavirus in Syria<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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[<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1MwiPBvOhkcBdbR8y8-Cs_UxjYcBRGDlp">PDF version</a>]
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreaks in IDP camps, Syria</span><br />
<br />
To:<br />
The Rt.Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, International Development Secretary<br />
<br />
<br />
We, the undersigned Syrian and international organisations are writing to you to express our grave concern over the dire situation of the IDP camps in the north of Syria especially in the current Covid-19 pandemic. These camps are estimated to host more than one million displaced Syrians in overcrowded tents, with up to 35 people sharing a tent; lacking basic needs, such as sanitation, running water, safe food preparation facilities, and medical facilities.<br />
<br />
Countries across the world are taking extreme measures to curb the spread of the virus. Basic measures recommended by the WHO to halt contagion such as frequent, thorough handwashing, using hand sanitisers, catching coughs and sneezes in a tissue, social-distancing, and self -isolation for symptomatic individuals are all impossible for Syrians living in IDP camps. Furthermore, there is no access to basic medical care, let alone, intensive care facilities for those who develop acute respiratory distress or need ventilatory support. Existing remote medical facilities lack the ability to test for Covid-19, lack trained medical staff, and protective equipment for healthcare workers.<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
DFID provides UK aid to people in north west Syria through the WHO and local partner organisations in Turkey. In February 2018 DFID announced an emergency UK aid package to provide safe water to 575,000 people in Idlib. A similar package is needed urgently since hundreds of thousands more have been displaced since that time. DFID must act now to ensure the safety and protection of displaced Syrians from the imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreaks in the camps. We call on you to urgently organise an emergency UK aid package to ensure the provision of:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Running water and soap in proximity to tents.
Expanding living spaces and reducing overcrowding by supplying a sufficient number of tents to house displaced families</li>
<li>Increasing the capacity and proximity of medical facilities by increasing the number of sites, staff, Covid-19 testing kits, intensive care facilities, and ventilation support equipment such as oxygen support and ventilators.</li>
<li>Training healthcare workers and providing necessary personal protective equipment</li>
</ul>
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have predicted that an outbreak of Covid- 19 in refugee camps, usually much better equipped than the IDP camps in the north of Syria will have devastating effects and much higher mortality rates than in other settings.<br />
<br />
We therefore call on you to act with the highest levels of urgency.<br />
<br />
Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Aula Abbara, Syrian Public Health Network, UK<br />
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire UK<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-11934477939876455852020-03-26T02:27:00.002-07:002020-03-27T14:53:08.780-07:00To the UN and WHO on Coronavirus in Syria<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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[<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_M7hC5P1sCUMXG28hfPM5MXSI8GbP_hr">PDF version</a>]
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreaks in IDP camps, Syria</span><br />
<br />
To:<br />
Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General<br />
Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees<br />
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General<br />
Mr. Kevin Kennedy, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis<br />
Dr Jorge Martinez, World Health Organization Health Cluster Coordinator<br />
Dr Mahmoud Daher, World Health Organization, Emergency Health Coordinator<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
We, the undersigned Syrian and international organisations are writing to you to express our grave concern over the dire situation of the IDP camps in the north of Syria especially in the current Covid-19 pandemic. These camps are estimated to host more than one million displaced Syrians in overcrowded tents, with up to 35 people sharing a tent; lacking basic needs, such as sanitation, running water, safe food preparation facilities, and medical facilities.<br />
<br />
Countries across the world are taking extreme measures to curb the spread of the virus. Basic measures recommended by the WHO to halt contagion such as frequent, thorough handwashing, using hand sanitisers, catching coughs and sneezes in a tissue, social-distancing, and self -isolation for symptomatic individuals are all impossible for Syrians living in IDP camps. Furthermore, there is no access to basic medical care, let alone, intensive care facilities for those who develop acute respiratory distress or need ventilatory support. Existing remote medical facilities lack the ability to test for Covid-19, lack trained medical staff, and protective equipment for healthcare workers.<br />
<br />
The WHO & UNHCR currently provide healthcare and camp supplies to the north west of Syria and must act NOW to ensure the safety and protection of displaced Syrians from the expected outbreak of Covid19 in the camps. We call on the you to urgently mobilise resources to ensure the provision of:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Running water and soap in proximity to tents.
Expanding living spaces and reducing overcrowding by supplying a sufficient number of tents to house displaced families</li>
<li>Increasing the capacity and proximity of medical facilities by increasing the number of sites, staff, Covid-19 testing kits, intensive care facilities, and ventilation support equipment such as oxygen support and ventilators.</li>
<li>Training healthcare workers and providing necessary personal protective equipment</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Multiple human rights and humanitarian aid organisations have predicted that an outbreak of Covid- 19 in refugee camps, usually much better equipped than the IDP camps in the north of Syria, will have devastating effects and much higher mortality rates than in other settings.<br />
<br />
We therefore call on you to act with the highest levels of urgency.<br />
<br />
Assaad Al Achi, Baytna, Belgium<br />
Salma Kahale, Dawlaty, Belgium<br />
Valerie Hughes, Irish Syria Solidarity Movement, Ireland<br />
Hamish de Bretton Gordon, Doctors Under Fire, UK<br />
Isam Khatib, Kesh Malek, Turkey<br />
Fadi Dayoub, Local Development and Small-Projects Support (LDSPS), Turkey<br />
Marjolein Wijninckx, PAX for Peace, The Netherlands<br />
Hayma Alyousfi, Shaml Syrian CSOs Coalition, Turkey<br />
Fatima Obayan, Souryana Al Amal, Syria<br />
Mohammad Dibo, Syria Untold, Germany<br />
Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK<br />
Rula Asad, Syrian Female Journalist Network, The Netherlands<br />
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Syrian Network for Human Rights, UK<br />
Aula Abbara, Syrian Public Health Network, UK<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-35818677930672190962020-03-04T09:03:00.000-08:002020-03-06T04:02:24.890-08:00Questions and answers on the war in Syria and the crisis in Idlib<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<a href="https://apnews.com/e99ea131c009b43f1b0f4a30dc680565" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4CbKJcsergd4y-bk8iW_5BUDJH0ScIPJ_a5Zgrd8fKBVclN9At8O0Wf42THWl0edFKwKgmHqUYRCKRlbS2yEfgaudPviUvGFpnCwHIk-nJ_eF370YpbGpmMBnIqy-zb0HcJDuG0b_BQO6/s1600/11+Feb+2020+AP+Photo+Ghaith+Alsayed.jpeg" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">An Assad regime helicopter in flames over Idlib after being shot by Turkish-backed forces, 11 February 2020. <a href="https://apnews.com/e99ea131c009b43f1b0f4a30dc680565">Photo by Ghaith Alsayed, AP</a>.</span></i><br />
<br />
The Syrian war has lasted nine years, and can be hard for many to understand.<br />
<br />
We have written the following guide to help understand the war, and the current escalation in Idlib province. If you find it useful, please share on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2116875929653915782&postID=3581867793067219096&target=twitter">Twitter</a> and on <a href="https://www.blogger.com/share-post.g?blogID=2116875929653915782&postID=3581867793067219096&target=facebook">Facebook</a>.<br />
<br />
If you would like to write to your MP about any of these points, you can email them via <a href="https://www.writetothem.com/">writetothem.com</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Why is there still a war in Syria?<br /></span>
Nine years after the first demonstrations of 2011, the Assad regime continues to pursue a forcible displacement strategy against a population that rejects its rule, deliberately bombing civilians to force them to flee.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What caused the crisis in Idlib?<br /></span>
The Assad regime and its ally Russia broke a demilitarised zone agreement with Turkey, attacked population centres, and advanced into Idlib province, forcing a million people to flee to the Turkish border.<br />
<br />
Two thirds of Idlib’s population are there because they were forcibly displaced from other parts of Syria.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Why can’t people in Idlib escape into Turkey?<br /></span>
Refugees in Idlib are trapped across the border from Turkey by the border wall, built with EU financial investment to stop refugees from entering Turkey as part of the deal to keep refugees from Europe’s borders. They are unable to find safety from air attacks and are living in hazardous conditions. Some people trying to cross the border have been shot and even killed.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What can be done about refugees in Greece and Turkey?<br /></span>
The UK is complicit in the crisis facing refugees in Greece and in Turkey due to past failure to protect civilians inside Syria and its role in developing hostile EU refugee policies. The UK should urgently resettle significant numbers of vulnerable refugees from both Turkey and Greece.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What are Turkish forces doing in Idlib?<br /></span>
Turkish forces have been striking Assad regime military targets to force them to withdraw to a boundary previously agreed under the 2018 Sochi deal, a line delineated by Turkish observation posts.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">UPDATE<br /></span>
<br />
On 5 March 2020, Turkey’s President Erdogan met Russia’s President Putin, and they agreed a ceasefire. The terms failed to achieve an Assad regime withdrawal to the 2018 Sochi line. As a result, over one million people recently displaced in Idlib will be unable to return home, as it is unsafe for them to return to towns now held by the Assad regime where they would risk abuse, forced conscription, detention, torture, and death.<br />
<br />
See map below.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqIKpVcXlfsg-inVo9F_hRkTnhQLKZzw7dPEEBEMPbM5yfs_iCTNi9z_mnezG7oz7ZNzRGRRQ1BOo1Q6kiRUllgCp-zKOtUqb9vSom-BD349rkyLH-NZp0MrSabPwBlTibr5pQq4wZIBA/s1600/conflict+line+4+march+2020.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqIKpVcXlfsg-inVo9F_hRkTnhQLKZzw7dPEEBEMPbM5yfs_iCTNi9z_mnezG7oz7ZNzRGRRQ1BOo1Q6kiRUllgCp-zKOtUqb9vSom-BD349rkyLH-NZp0MrSabPwBlTibr5pQq4wZIBA/s1600/conflict+line+4+march+2020.png" data-original-width="952" data-original-height="892" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Would an Assad victory allow refugees to return home?<br /></span>
No, in the case of an Assad victory, most of the six million refugees outside Syria would not feel safe to return, and millions more would try to flee Syria.<br />
<br />
Nine out of every ten civilians who have been confirmed killed in the Syrian conflict were killed by the Assad regime and its Russian allies, according to human rights monitors. (See chart below.) As well as civilians killed by bombing and shooting, tens of thousands of civilians have been imprisoned, tortured, raped, and murdered by Assad regime security branches.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What is the most urgent need for people in Syria?<br /></span>
The most urgent need is for civilian protection, firstly in Idlib, and also across the rest of Syria.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Is humanitarian aid the best response?<br /></span>
Humanitarian aid is vital, but can’t stop attacks on civilians or stop forced displacement.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Can the UK and allies stop Assad attacking civilians?<br /></span>
The UK could consider how best to support NATO ally Turkey in order to reduce the threat to civilians from Assad military forces, for example by directly supporting Turkish efforts to impose a no-fly zone against Assad regime bombers.<br />
<br />
Turkish forces are currently the only UK ally on the ground in Idlib with the capacity to protect civilians from Assad regime military attacks.<br />
<br />
The Assad regime sees the conquest of Idlib and displacement of its population as essential to its own future, and therefore diplomacy without the backing of force will fail. Assad has broken every previous agreement, and no enduring ceasefire can be established without enforcement.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What about the Turkish government’s human rights abuses?<br /></span>
The Turkish government has one of the worst records on imprisoning journalists. Turkish action in the Afrin region of Syria led to the displacement of thousands of Kurdish residents. Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria have been filmed murdering unarmed prisoners.<br />
<br />
However, the UK and its other allies are themselves implicated in human rights abuses that have caused the deaths of thousands of Syrian civilians, including refugees drowned in the Mediterranean due to hostile EU policies, civilians besieged and killed in the Coalition’s Raqqa offensive, and civilians starved in Rukban camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border.<br />
<br />
The UK and its allies all need to work constructively to drastically improve the human rights performance of all parties, and to protect civilians inside Syria and protect refugees fleeing Syria.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What about Russia?<br /></span>
The UK could introduce targeted sanctions against those Russian individuals who have been identified as having command responsibility for targeting hospitals and civilians.<br />
<br />
While Assad regime officers and ministers have been sanctioned, and some Russian individuals have been sanctioned in connection with Russian aggression in Ukraine, no sanctions have been imposed on Russian individuals for their role in crimes in Syria.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• Can the UK and allies act when the Security Council is divided?<br /></span>
The Security Council has not authorised action to enforce a ceasefire or end the conflict. However Security Council Resolution 2139 (2014) demanded “that all parties immediately cease all attacks against civilians, as well as the indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment…”<br />
<br />
The UK has previously asserted that use of force in a humanitarian intervention is permitted on an exceptional basis even without Security Council endorsement.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What else can MPs do?<br /></span>
There is a wide lack of understanding of what is happening in Idlib, and the reality of people’s lives there. Fact-finding missions to Idlib by MPs could help bridge the gap in understanding. There have been recent visits to Idlib both by senior UN staff and by senior US representatives.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What else should the UK Government do?<br /></span>
To aid understanding, the UK Government should publish assessments of the probable consequences of failing to act to protect civilians in Idlib, both immediate humanitarian impacts and the wider political, economic, and military consequences for the region, Europe, and the UK.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #c53245; font-family: "suez one"; font-size: 120%;">• What about the future?<br /></span>
The UK has up to now followed a policy of containment on Syria, but containment has failed in every year of the conflict, in terms of refugee outflows, widening security threats, and widening political and economic impacts beyond Syria. The UK urgently needs a new comprehensive strategy to guide Syria policy.<br />
<br />
Beyond the immediate need for civilian protection, lack of accountability is the central cause of the conflict. A peaceful secure future demands that individuals, armed groups, and governments can be held accountable, within Syria as well as internationally. The UK should give much greater support to accountability mechanisms, including inside Syria’s borders where possible.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsSa8bNQ7vynvEcKHkP0Se4GJZHZcrq5t79TlQgs2wUsWceAIhf9Grb4afN-Oy8WOYL4W23fJ7RNndFfw7wExndUhqW9QP9DyPnZwjsxD_Y9Yj9lb5rOtCQXs8PsrdEFgYtoLf2aOeQZs4/s1600/O190910EG1.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsSa8bNQ7vynvEcKHkP0Se4GJZHZcrq5t79TlQgs2wUsWceAIhf9Grb4afN-Oy8WOYL4W23fJ7RNndFfw7wExndUhqW9QP9DyPnZwjsxD_Y9Yj9lb5rOtCQXs8PsrdEFgYtoLf2aOeQZs4/s1600/O190910EG1.jpg" data-original-width="1600" data-original-height="1100" /></a><br />
<br />
Chart: Nine out of every ten civilians who have been confirmed killed in the Syrian conflict were killed by the Assad regime and its Russian allies, according to the <a href="http://sn4hr.org/blog/2018/09/24/civilian-death-toll/">Syrian Network for Human Rights</a>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-60645369569780907402020-03-02T06:11:00.004-08:002020-03-02T07:41:18.849-08:00Urgent request to invoke European Directive on Temporary Protection<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CSnMWkdtVHHoQAb-BUmmTFyywfUDGMBt" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; max-width: 50%;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNmByphYCEDXyPV2i6esq9496jOFeaKznRF7yiujjlEqom5hLNBHpKo-PVdtEhIachLzNUDf9_XNQJ73DMDS3BvnslWfiAR4vhTUHFCXP8I1kI3VZLTWBmpVj8xleopRs-ETJi98WHMDXa/s1600/urgent_request_sq.png" data-original-width="800" data-original-height="800" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">[<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1CSnMWkdtVHHoQAb-BUmmTFyywfUDGMBt">PDF version</a>]</span><br />
<br />To M. Charles Michel<br />
President European Council<br />
Rue de la Loi 175<br />
B-1048 Bruxelles<br />
Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/eucopresident">@eucopresident</a><br />
Fax +32 22816934<br />
<br />
Cc: Sir Tim Barrow, UK Ambassador to the EU<br />
Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/UKMisBrussels">@UKMisBrussels</a><br />
<br />
2 March 2020<br />
<br />
Dear M. Michel,<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">URGENT REQUEST TO INVOKE EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE ON TEMPORARY PROTECTION</span><br />
We are extremely concerned at the chaotic scenes on Europe’s frontiers, as desperate Syrian refugees attempt to enter Greece and Bulgaria, following Turkey’s recent decision to open its borders with the European Union.<br />
<br />
The humanitarian catastrophe in Syria has had enormous consequences for its neighbours over the last 9 years, with Turkey Lebanon and Jordan bearing the largest burden of refugees; and among European countries Greece, and Italy.<br />
<br />
With the latest massing of Syrians fleeing from Turkey, it is clear that the EU–Turkey Statement has broken down. Europe has reached the threshold of risk envisaged by the Directive’s creators—i.e. ‘a mass influx of displaced people’ with a risk of the standard asylum system in any one country being unable to cope with the demand. The basis of the Directive is the principle of solidarity among member states, and the sharing of responsibility for any emergency, across the Union.<br />
<br />
All member states except Denmark have signed up to the Directive. We are copying in our Ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow, to remind our government of its responsibility.<br />
<br />
You, M. Michel, as President of the European Council, have primary responsibility for making the crucial decision. We ask you to take all necessary steps (including consultation with the Council of Ministers) to trigger the Temporary Protection Directive immediately and as a matter of emergency.<br />
<br />
This could open the borders to Syrian refugees and displaced people, put an end to the cruel and chaotic situation facing them, and establish an orderly and equitable process to shelter them while the risk to Syrian citizens from their own government remains. The scale of the crisis—the humanitarian tragedy of the 21st century—demands no less of us all.<br />
<br />
Yours sincerely<br />
Batool Abdulkareem<br />
Syria Solidarity UK<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-88171929643149797722019-11-13T02:18:00.001-08:002020-03-04T14:30:07.814-08:00The quiet soldier<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">By Clara Connolly</span><br />
<br />
Syria Solidarity UK is devastated to hear of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/11/british-founder-of-white-helmets-found-dead-in-istanbul-james-le-mesurier">the death this week</a>, at his home in Istanbul, of James Le Mesurier.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Whatever the circumstances, which are not yet clear, it cannot be seen as a coincidence in the week of his death that he has been attacked by the Russian Foreign Ministry, libelled as a supporter of jihadists; and that the <a href="https://www.syrianotes.org/2019/11/targeting-of-hospitals-resumes-in-idlib.html">Russian bombing of hospitals</a> in Idlib has resumed.<br />
<br />
For James le Mesurier, and his organisation <a href="https://maydayrescue.org/">Mayday Rescue</a>, have been centrally involved in the training of the Syrian Civil Defence—more commonly known as the <a href="https://www.whitehelmets.org/en/">White Helmets</a>—a volunteer group of first responders in Syria’s opposition areas, who also serve as vital sources of information about Russian and other atrocities in the Syrian conflict.<br />
<br />
James Le Mesurier was a British soldier whose experience in Bosnia first led him to consider humanitarian work. He left the army and worked in the UN and then in private security companies for a time, but was dissatisfied with the effectiveness of either for the protection of civilians in conflict.<br />
<br />
So in 2013, seeing Syrian civilians struggling to respond to relentless air attacks by the Assad regime, he launched the first training course for twenty-five Syrian volunteer first defenders, with the help of Turkish disaster response teams.<br />
<br />
Since then, he was until his death intensively involved in training successive White Helmet teams. Their autonomy as Syrians remained essential to him: he has remained a trainer and provider of equipment rather than an organiser. He and they believed that their freedom from interference by outside political actors has remained essential to their integrity.<br />
<br />
Le Mesurier is one of a number of remarkable British men and women whose individual initiatives have placed the protection of civilians at the heart of their work for Syria. I’ll mention two others: the surgeon David Nott who has trained Syrian doctors in the war zone; and Jo Cox, the MP who spoke often and eloquently in Parliament for the protection of Syrians.<br />
<br />
The outstanding work of such individuals has been in stark contrast with British and other governments who have never placed first priority on the protection of civilians. They have remained unmoved by the pleas of the White Helmets and others (most recently Kurdish civilians) for a No-Fly Zone, and have been (to put it mildly) careless about civilian casualties in the Coalition war against ISIS.<br />
<br />
At this sad time for his family and for his colleagues, we salute the quiet heroism and dedication of James le Mesurier, and we condemn the inaction of Britain and the world in the face of the continued suffering of Syrian civilians.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-43467730717496937032019-11-07T14:40:00.001-08:002020-03-04T14:31:49.507-08:00WANTED for targeting hospitals<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:description" content="Putin’s forces are bombing hospitals—again.">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxpnLwVShfwFrH1_rtnXcCppuyZW_RvwgbVpiurqYzay-g787nHpUjnRMs7Wp8W3aIjVbrKbj34cp7u47NpcgUwSmVtpTSrJaVLZvGr4hwIKAQXu5zUQbEAXF7Yv_ix9GNZtEs_vFK_IY/s1600/wantedx5a1800.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_xrc3z0shsslGm6Tw0WqUAOd-JZxV-_InU_rdzQceGQRoHwvkW0k7gl4l9qJFWMT8XD_y9LovB4vCwZmhA1TjIybiNZKVnbEUiVujKmySfNUOxrZHoYvcD0KUVZ8VNQ1gvpnLlB72jHwM/s1600/wantedx5a1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Putin and Assad’s forces are bombing hospitals—again.</span><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
In a single day this week, <a href="https://www.syrianotes.org/2019/11/targeting-of-hospitals-resumes-in-idlib.html">Wednesday 6 November 2019</a>, two hospitals were targeted in Idlib province, Syria.<br />
<br />
Al Ikhlas Maternity Hospital near Shnan village in southern Idlib province was bombed by Russian planes, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. Two medics were injured. The building and equipment were severely damaged. Here’s a video.<br />
<br />
The Kafranbel Surgical Hospital was bombed again. This hospital—run by a UK charity—has already been bombed several times this year.<br />
<br />
It was bombed on 5 May by a Russian pilot who released four bombs on the hospital at five minute intervals. His radio communications were intercepted and analysed for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/reader-center/russia-syria-hospitals-investigation.html"><i>New York Times</i> investigation</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://hihfad.org/news/thursday-4th-of-july-statement-regarding-the-3rd-attack-on-kofr-nobol-hospital-in-idlib-syria-">It was bombed again on 4 July</a>. First by military helicopters shortly before 3pm local time. Then again about fifty minutes later by air launched missiles.<br />
<br />
Kafranbel Surgical Hospital was on the UN’s deconfliction list. This means that the hospital team, trying to protect the hospital, had given the coordinates of the hospital to the UN for them to share with military powers intervening in Syria, including Russia.<br />
<br />
Of course medics in Syria already knew Putin’s forces were targeting hospitals, just as Putin’s ally Assad has targeted medics since the early demonstrations of 2011 were met with deadly force, and doctors and nurses went to try and help Assad’s victims.<br />
<br />
The hope was that by establishing the fact via the UN that these were hospitals and therefore protected in law, that Putin and Assad might be dissuaded from attacking. That hasn’t worked.<br />
<br />
But having shared coordinates with Russia means that there is now no doubt about the criminality of the two leaders, Putin and Assad, and no doubt about the criminality of the military officers with command responsibility for these attacks.<br />
<br />
Assad’s top officers, Assad’s ministers, are all sanctioned by the UK, sanctioned by the EU. But no Russian individuals are sanctioned for crimes in Syria. It’s time for that to change.<br />
<br />
In the current election, voters are hearing scary things about Russian government influence in UK politics. So will British politicians be willing take a stand on Russian crimes in Syria?<br />
<br />
The following Russian officers and leaders should be sanctioned. Criminal cases should be prepared should the opportunity arise to prosecute them.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0i3r_C0gMMKUr6r8vCEnKjntBO0N0l-XHgmHULUIL0Phci1x1gq84NufA06X0_kaewrdRYK5lFwatQxp-ZInnX5NuFqhTkSSbL0AyeMFtVZakfTLuI5JlpWI5mm5k8i_9uj0qGvxZd5Uo/s1600/wanted+-+chayko+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0i3r_C0gMMKUr6r8vCEnKjntBO0N0l-XHgmHULUIL0Phci1x1gq84NufA06X0_kaewrdRYK5lFwatQxp-ZInnX5NuFqhTkSSbL0AyeMFtVZakfTLuI5JlpWI5mm5k8i_9uj0qGvxZd5Uo/s1600/wanted+-+chayko+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Lieutenant-General Alexander Chayko, Head of Russian group of forces in Syria.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUlRWq7rUmWNaB311QxeYlQADhbr7I7mMYlLcqEo60i1v-MbuQhyd93Q9xaOT8MX9Ey9muLfNJdlNtY-pZ86hLpZgtWhBfC_kYDuegtmGWzvGl6mhwuLP1-Hds6wyky98maZH70KQQ_X3/s1600/wanted+-+serdyukov+b+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQUlRWq7rUmWNaB311QxeYlQADhbr7I7mMYlLcqEo60i1v-MbuQhyd93Q9xaOT8MX9Ey9muLfNJdlNtY-pZ86hLpZgtWhBfC_kYDuegtmGWzvGl6mhwuLP1-Hds6wyky98maZH70KQQ_X3/s1600/wanted+-+serdyukov+b+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Colonel-General Andrey Serdyukov, Head of Russian group of forces in Syria up to September 2019.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu2GrW1Psgal8j262FzYem6Ng6DdFJvf_3ALrmzI6gf8TSKq6uSpU1KMpkxKjifDqdTcj2EdOKJZLCWQL470pfO-17BkUMhWSjFMlXge2b5uD1U48gue_7E_2JeGttsSkenj_VKbq1QeB/s1600/wanted+-+yudin+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu2GrW1Psgal8j262FzYem6Ng6DdFJvf_3ALrmzI6gf8TSKq6uSpU1KMpkxKjifDqdTcj2EdOKJZLCWQL470pfO-17BkUMhWSjFMlXge2b5uD1U48gue_7E_2JeGttsSkenj_VKbq1QeB/s1600/wanted+-+yudin+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Lieutenant-General Andrey Yudin, Chief of the Air Force.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpUbSjhTTBqoTiU68iejfP5RTbtjJcK8qmlQVbl1ocX2RjHUBAo3uEs-hxAgf0DBzrql3-9Qby-iKkSnHzAbFv5sgb_VUdeD65t3rtVWOELu8gRzG0i0NB3-NyCTTLfPE7LeGx52KMiNQ/s1600/wanted+-+surovikin+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpUbSjhTTBqoTiU68iejfP5RTbtjJcK8qmlQVbl1ocX2RjHUBAo3uEs-hxAgf0DBzrql3-9Qby-iKkSnHzAbFv5sgb_VUdeD65t3rtVWOELu8gRzG0i0NB3-NyCTTLfPE7LeGx52KMiNQ/s1600/wanted+-+surovikin+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin, Commander in Chief of the Russian VKS.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCvu8qX4-47I_R6b-A-2ro27ogYscG5ei8mw8nSF5xSHIoPMTw1PKBGDs9YZm1M1LzHOdfBA18vds5UNaX8AdGApyYAdnDBiNVYfBMh_jtcGZmhMMhPvmOeQ17haIFFzph3-EVs5wJmmx/s1600/wanted+-+shoigu+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwCvu8qX4-47I_R6b-A-2ro27ogYscG5ei8mw8nSF5xSHIoPMTw1PKBGDs9YZm1M1LzHOdfBA18vds5UNaX8AdGApyYAdnDBiNVYfBMh_jtcGZmhMMhPvmOeQ17haIFFzph3-EVs5wJmmx/s1600/wanted+-+shoigu+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Defence Minister.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4U7gEjAh4qeKtrGE9ukWYGtsh5psKuG_5Ym1yTl87sE1WEscMlNr9EbVq1amimiE7IAh5noGhVNjYg8n2mR9bBnYTj84N9jzqa5mfhyphenhyphen0-hHN60fmTMqMe7_w4MZcVdL5IIWJADrjICm6g/s1600/wanted+-+putin+1000.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4U7gEjAh4qeKtrGE9ukWYGtsh5psKuG_5Ym1yTl87sE1WEscMlNr9EbVq1amimiE7IAh5noGhVNjYg8n2mR9bBnYTj84N9jzqa5mfhyphenhyphen0-hHN60fmTMqMe7_w4MZcVdL5IIWJADrjICm6g/s1600/wanted+-+putin+1000.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";"><a href="https://www.syrianotes.org/2019/09/the-men-who-give-orders.html">Read more about Russia’s chain of command targeting hospitals</a>.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-56666330637450965392019-10-23T04:37:00.002-07:002019-11-09T12:00:53.658-08:00UK and US keep secret the information that could save lives in Syria<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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After the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/22/turkey-and-russia-agree-deal-over-buffer-zone-in-northern-syria">Putin-Erdogan deal</a> over northeastern Syria, there are growing fears of an undisclosed side-deal between the Turkish and Russian leaders trading part of Idlib to the Assad regime in exchange for Russian cooperation with Turkey along the northern border.<br />
<br />
Reinforcing these fears, at the same time as Putin and Erdogan met in Sochi, Assad appeared for cameras with regime forces in <a href="https://twitter.com/tobiaschneider/status/1186555632201162752">southern Idlib</a>, supervising <a href="https://twitter.com/nedalalamari/status/1186716867819376640">artillery fire</a> against the opposition held area. Russian <a href="https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/status/1185564387454660608">air attacks</a> have also escalated in recent days.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">If the worst comes to pass and we see a full renewal of Putin and Assad’s campaign of eradication against people in Idlib, their aircraft will be watched in silence at every step by American and British military officers.</span><br />
<br />
Back in 2015, Syria Civil Defence called on the US to share radar data to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/us-military-warn-civilians-incoming-syria-air-strikes">help give early warning to civilians</a> of Assad’s air attacks. The US refused.<br />
<br />
Since the UK joined the air war in Syria, we have been calling on them to publish tracking information to help identify parties responsible for the targeting of hospitals, aid workers, and markets, and to hold them accountable. The UK refuses.<br />
<br />
In response to these calls, the UK Government has tried to obscure its capacity to track Syrian and Russian aircraft. The truth is that the UK has for years been part of the Coalition operation to track these aircraft for deconfliction.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidalRPSOuFl_23T-dE7TLJ0PU73H-B0Z7eA80UtkByiSdTstydjq9t2DQELNebjEdw9PMPKqc9OKGqGAXMk1wEwMx881NgHlYSEyGQ-8uncveg3H-VUCRIFcIRnZzLxW1hUcJrNDlv-xw4/s1600/combined_air_operations_center_at_al_udeid.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXqwArq8MFMi9YdlMjCjZsoirgONHKcRdFHzWrZ4hEycQ35hMqJ_KlazDq4DTyGAOKiVV0qkTz8Sm658zBnqO_tFgU-w63ZPXhntBtJ5Vv8XxMY6jEtSjVv8bIEofzm5Qkr-FlrAEdM54R/s1600/caoc_card.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
This is a US Air Force photo of the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. <a href="https://www.afcent.af.mil/About/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/217803/combined-air-operations-center-caoc/">See the original here</a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Note the display at (A) showing aircraft flights over Syria.</span> Journalist Michael R Gordon described his visit to Al Udeid Air Base in an article for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/us/politics/air-war-syria.html"><i>The New York Times</i></a>, 23 May 2017:<br />
<blockquote>
“The challenge in operating in Syria’s crowded airspace is clear from a glance at a large video screen inside the center that tracks aircraft across the region. Russian and Syrian planes are marked with yellow and orange icons; American and allied planes are delineated in green while civilian aircraft are blue.”</blockquote>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "suez one";">Note the British presence at (B) — including a picture of the Queen.</span> Air Vice-Marshal Stringer, in oral evidence to the Commons Defence Select Committee on 15 May 2018, talking of the importance of the UK contribution to the Coalition effort, singled out the RAF contribution of “E-3 aircraft to support our awareness of what was going on in the air environment, and to aid deconfliction, as well as the flow of sorties.”<br />
<br />
A fuller picture of how the system works was given in the most recent issue of <a href="https://www.syrianotes.org/2019/09/investigating-hospital-attacks.html"><i>Syria Notes</i></a>:<br />
<blockquote>
According to Justin Bronk, Research Fellow, Airpower and Technology at the Royal United Services Institute, NATO AWACS aircraft and other Coalition aircraft “will track and share the locations of Russian and Syrian aircraft from the time that they take off to the time they land.”<br />
<br />
NATO’s AWACS inventory includes Royal Air Force E-3Ds, US Air Force E-3Gs, French Air Force E-3Fs and the NATO pooled E-3A fleet. These are the cornerstone of the Coalition’s airspace surveillance and management over Syria, including deconfliction with Russian and Syrian aircraft, Justin Bronk explained to Syria Notes.<br />
<br />
Coalition aircraft typically broadcast a radio transponder signal which can be picked up by any radar controller, including by those in Damascus, and by the E-3 AWACS. Also, Coalition aircraft will be on Link 16, an airborne datalink network which allows all aircraft on the link—from fighters, tankers, surveillance aircraft to AWACS themselves—to share sensor data to build collective situational awareness. This means that all Coalition aircraft are typically well aware of allied aircraft and what those can see, with the AWACS fleets providing overall coordination as well as contributing a lot of situational awareness from their on-board wide-area surveillance radar.<br />
<br />
For deconfliction and tracking of Russian and Syrian aircraft, which typically do not broadcast a transponder signal, more traditional tracking and radio communications are used. AWACS and fighter assets where available will track and share the locations of Russian and Syrian aircraft from the time they take off to the time they land. If there is a need to deconflict for flight safety, the AWACS crew will typically contact these aircraft via the internationally recognised ‘guard’ frequency—243.0 MHz for military operations—to advise or warn them.<br />
<br />
To positively identify these non-transponder broadcasting aircraft, many Coalition assets such as AWACS aircraft and the US Air Force’s F-15 and F-22 fighters can use techniques such as Non-Cooperative Threat Recognition (NTCR) which involves using onboard radar to focus on and classify unknown aircraft by identifying distinctive features like engine fan blade size and engine spacing.</blockquote>
<br />
So when Putin and Assad return to bombing schools, hospitals, bakeries and markets, know that the UK and US militaries watch every move, but do nothing to warn the victims, nothing to publish evidence of who is responsible, and nothing to stop the slaughter continuing.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-78618407608989436612019-10-10T11:06:00.002-07:002019-11-09T12:00:43.519-08:00Stop forced deportations from Turkey to Syria<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:title" content="Stop forced deportations from Turkey to Syria">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="A joint letter to EU leaders.">
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<br />
Cross-posted from <a href="https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/stop-forced-deportations-turkey-syria/">The Syria Campaign</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/stop-forced-deportations-turkey-syria/#section1">Arabic version</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://diary.thesyriacampaign.org/stop-forced-deportations-turkey-syria/#section2">Turkish version</a>.<br />
<br />
Dear Commissioner Hahn, High Representative Mogherini and High Commissioner Filippo Grandi,<br />
<br />
We, the undersigned Syrian and international human rights organizations, are writing to ask you to urge the Turkish authorities not to deport Syrian refugees from Istanbul and other cities to Syria, where they face a real risk of detention, torture, and death.<br />
<br />
On 20 August the Istanbul governor's office announced that Syrian refugees in Istanbul who are registered under the country's temporary protection policy in other provinces must return there by 30 October. Turkey's Interior Ministry has also said that unregistered Syrians found in Istanbul will be sent to other as yet unspecified provinces in Turkey. Since late 2017, Istanbul and nine other provinces have stopped registering newly arriving Syrian asylum seekers, forcing many to live in Turkey without a temporary protection permit.<br />
<br />
In addition, in recent months, xenophobic sentiment towards Syrian refugees in Turkey has escalated , fueled in part by hostile rhetoric from politicians across the political spectrum who have promised voters to send refugees home.<br />
<br />
Since mid-July, activists and human rights organizations have documented many cases in which the authorities have arrested and detained registered Syrian refugees outside their registered province. The arrests have included those traveling from other parts of Turkey to their registered provinces, as well as unregistered Syrians. The authorities have coerced Syrians into signing “voluntary return” documents before deporting them to Syria.<br />
<br />
In July and August, 6,160 and 8,901 Syrians — both registered and unregistered — were deported to Syria from Turkey through the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, according to the Syrian immigration authorities' website. This is a significant increase compared to previous months and coincides with the July policy change. These figures may also include Syrians intercepted and deported shortly after they crossed into Turkey, a practice that has been going on for a number of years.<br />
<br />
Reports from media and activists in touch with our organizations confirm that the Turkish police have beaten detainees, denied them medical care and, in some cases, sent them to Idlib and northern Aleppo, where more than 1,180 civilians have been killed since February 2019, according to the local monitoring organization, the Response Coordination Group.<br />
<br />
By deporting refugees and asylum seekers to a war zone or to areas where there is a real risk of persecution, Turkish authorities are in violation of their obligations under international law, and specifically the prohibition on refoulement. The Syrians being sent back not only face being caught up in the offensive in Idlib governorate but are at risk of arrest and torture at the hands of the Syrian government or armed groups.<br />
<br />
Syrians we have spoken to describe how afraid they are now in Turkey. They stay at home to avoid arrest, including once they have returned to the cities where they were registered.<br />
<br />
In August, the EU announced a further € 127 million to boost its Emergency Social Safety Net program for refugees in Turkey. In total, the EU has pledged € 6 billion in refugee funding to Turkey, while the UNHCR continues to support Syrian refugees in the country.<br />
<br />
However, neither the European Commission, EU member states, nor UNHCR have spoken publicly about these deportations, despite the clear risk that large numbers of Syrians in Turkey's cities now face. They should press the Turkish authorities to stop all forced return of Syrians, including an end to coercing Syrians into signing voluntary repatriation forms, and to give those already deported to Syria the option to return to Turkey.<br />
<br />
Member states, the European Commission and UNHCR should also commit to increasing their presence in Turkey's removal centers to ensure that Syrians are not coerced into signing voluntary repatriation forms.<br />
<br />
If needed, they should support Turkish authorities to register unregistered Syrians and ensure ongoing financial support to Turkey to better protect Syrian refugees.<br />
<br />
We also urge EU member states to resettle significant numbers of Syrian refugees from Turkey.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
11.11.11<br />
Adopt a Revolution<br />
Cairo Institute for Human Rights<br />
Dawlaty<br />
Human Rights Watch<br />
Irish Syria Solidarity Movement<br />
PAX<br />
PÊL- Civil Waves Bell - <br />
URNAMMU<br />
Syrian British Council<br />
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression<br />
Syrians for Truth and Justice And Justice<br />
Syrian Network for Human Rights<br />
Syria Solidarity UK<br />
The Syria Campaign<br />
Women Now for DevelopmentUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-2766018765238154882019-10-03T04:23:00.000-07:002019-10-03T04:42:13.667-07:00The Syrian Apple: Art by Amany Al-Ali in Lancaster, October 18-29<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:title" content="The Syrian Apple: Art by Amany Al-ali, Lancaster, Oct. 18-29">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="With photography by Young Lens, Humans of Syria, and photojournalist Antonio Olmos.">
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<br />
<a href="https://www.rrsoc.org/">Rethink Rebuild Society</a> and the Children’s War Museum are presenting an exhibition of art work from Idlib at <a href="http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/the-storey/about-the-storey">The Storey</a> gallery in Lancaster from October 18th to October 29th.<br />
<br />
The Syrian Apple features art by Amany Al-Ali from Idlib, Syria. Her work reflects the feelings and experiences many Syrians of the journey and the fate of what was once their green revolution.<br />
<br />
‘I made sure that I depicted the green apple as complete, healthy and beautiful in all the drawings in order to emphasise that the Syrian Revolution is still strong, alive and beautiful,’ explained Amany. ‘For me, the Syrian Revolution is an idea, and ideas do not die. Ideas cannot be killed or extinguished. An idea may test the patience of those who carry it; it might transform them or make them into heroes as they die for it.’<br />
<br />
The exhibition also includes photography by Young Lens, Humans of Syria, and photojournalist Antonio Olmos. Young Lens are a group of young activists who have been recording their experience of the Syrian revolution since 2011. Humans of Syria are creating profiles of some of the thousands of children who have been displaced within Syria. Antonio Olmos documented the Syrian refugee journey across Europe in 2015.<br />
<br />
The launch event is at 6.30 pm on Friday October 18th at the lecture theatre, and will include a film of interviews with some of the Syrian refugees who have come to the UK.<br />
<br />
Pictured: Illustration by Amany Al-Ali from the latest issue of <a href="https://www.syrianotes.org/2019/09/birth-under-bombing-i.html"><i>Syria Notes</i></a>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-31314422656365515812019-09-05T05:10:00.001-07:002019-09-05T05:13:21.426-07:00LCID and SyriaUK call on Diane Abbott to distance herself from pro-Assad atrocity denier<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:title" content="Diane Abbott and a pro-Assad atrocity denier">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Letter by Labour Campaign for International Development and SyriaUK.">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhcRD7w5onlYwjYbRqvoyoFUv_igBqgt9FiP7YN8HyRQzkT7ZPL11lzAHjaWfPoWYuGRcKgd_yk2jqJoil0a51XGIcp0-l9p_7f0cnle87aZOfBvW3JLdSrE4Dm3RLRl5ocZBshE75qgC/s1600/syriauk-lcid-diane-abbott.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; max-width: 50%;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQhcRD7w5onlYwjYbRqvoyoFUv_igBqgt9FiP7YN8HyRQzkT7ZPL11lzAHjaWfPoWYuGRcKgd_yk2jqJoil0a51XGIcp0-l9p_7f0cnle87aZOfBvW3JLdSrE4Dm3RLRl5ocZBshE75qgC/s1600/syriauk-lcid-diane-abbott.png" data-original-width="677" data-original-height="905" /></a></div><i>A letter from Labour Campaign for International Development and Syria Solidarity UK to Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, on news that she is to join in the launch of a publication co-authored by David Miller.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Diane Abbott MP<br />
Shadow Home Secretary<br />
House of Commons<br />
London<br />
SW1A 0AA<br />
<br />
5th September 2019<br />
<br />
Dear Diane,<br />
<br />
We are deeply concerned to learn that you are to take part in the launch of a CAGE publication co-authored by David Miller, a notorious pro-Assad atrocity denier. You previously appeared with him at a ‘Spinwatch’ panel event back on the 26th of March.<br />
<br />
David Miller, a professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol, is part of a group that systematically denies high profile Assad regime crimes against civilians in Syria, particularly the Assad regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons. David Miller has also sought to deny Russia’s responsibility for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.<br />
<br />
Labour’s 2017 manifesto, when referring to Syria, committed to work for justice for the victims of war crimes.<br />
<br />
As Home Secretary in a future Labour government, you would have responsibility for policy towards Syrian refugees in the UK who are victims of—and witnesses to—the Assad regime’s crimes. Diane Abbott would also have responsibility for the UK’s own investigations into war crimes, currently dealt with by SO15, the Counter Terrorism Command of the Metropolitan Police.<br />
<br />
If you associates herself with a committed war crimes denier such as David Miller, this must undermine confidence in the willingness of Labour to work for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for crimes in Syria, including some of the worst war crimes and crimes against humanity seen this century.<br />
<br />
We hope you will reconsider appearing on this panel and be more careful about who you associate yourself with in future given your responsibilities as an MP and as Shadow Home Secretary.<br />
<br />
Yours sincerely,<br />
<br />
Batool Abdulkareen,<br />
Syria Solidarity UK<br />
<br />
Bronwen Griffiths,<br />
Syria Solidarity UK<br />
<br />
David Taylor,<br />
Vice-Chair LCID<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2116875929653915782.post-16267842445458497492019-08-15T04:56:00.004-07:002019-08-15T05:01:36.249-07:00Photographers in Idlib<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:title" content="Photographers in Idlib">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Video by Merna Alhasan.">
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</div>
<br />
Merna Alhasan talks about a photography exhibition in Idlib.<br />
<br />
The exhibition was organised by the <a href="https://www.shafak.org/">Shafak Organisation</a> and sponsored by the Al Karameh Community Centre.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
“We’d like to send a message, first as participants in this exhibition, second as people living in Idlib, like the rest of the young men and women here, from different freed areas and those who are currently displaced in Idlib.<br />
<br />
“The exhibition’s aim was not just to show pictures by young Syrian men and women. The aim was something greater, to show a positive image to the world.<br />
<br />
“It was to give an aesthetic image, to send a message, specifically to Europe,that we exist in this city, and we deserve to live, and that our people are trying to recover by all possible means, regardless of the crises around us, or death looming about.<br />
<br />
“We must export a civilised image of the people living here, an image of life, and all that goes with it, an image of the social and family aspects.<br />
<br />
“As we can see here, these pictures are not all focused on one thing, some are social, others are related to nature, some show the beautiful character of our civilisation.<br />
<br />
“Perhaps they will help refute accusations that Idlib is a source of terrorism, and that it is a city covered in black.<br />
<br />
“Around eighty pictures are on show here, by young men and women who wanted to participate. It is a one of a kind event.<br />
<br />
“It encourages the talents of many people not able to work in their preferred fields. This competition gave them the space to show the positive side of their work, and the talent they possess. We have seen pictures here that we didn’t expect to exist in Idlib.<br />
<br />
“Note that these pictures were not taken with specialist cameras. Most were taken with mobile phones. The pictures show particular aspects that each person wanted to focus on, of what they liked, or wanted to highlight.<br />
<br />
“So the purpose of this exhibition is not just as a competition. All the participants here wanted to make their own positive imprint, but the greater aim of this exhibition, for the organisers, and for most of the young people here, was to highlight the positive side of the city we live in, to refute the narrative that is calling most people living here ‘terrorists‘.<br />
<br />
“No, we are civilians.<br />
<br />
“We are living in our city, and our land. We are the children of this country, and we deserve to live in it.”<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com