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Wednesday 4 November 2020

Westminster Hall debate on the humanitarian situation in Syria


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.

Read a transcript of the debate.

Watch a video of the debate.

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.

What remedies were discussed? Alison McGovern 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.

Tom Tugendhat 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.

Wera Hobhouse 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.

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.

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.

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 Overseas Operations Bill in the House of Commons to limit accountability for UK forces.

In his contribution to the debate, Anthony Mangnall 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.

Rushanara Ali and Jim Shannon 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.

David Linden 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 Anna McMorrin lamented the drop in UK aid to Syria this year, and called for it to be maintained.

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.

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.

The UK currently implements EU sanctions on Syria, and James Cleverly repeated the Government’s undertaking that they will implement their own sanctions regime after the Brexit transition period.

Last month Human Rights Watch published a report on Syrian and Russian Strikes on Civilian infrastructure in Idlib. They named several Russian officers as well as Syrian officers with command responsibility for targeting civilians. The Human Rights Watch list overlaps with names that Syria Solidarity UK published last year. The UK Government should now sanction these individuals without further delay:

  • General of the Army Sergei Shoigu
  • General of the Army Valery Gerasimov
  • Col.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy
  • Col.-Gen. Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin
  • Col.-Gen. Andrei Nikolaevich Serdyukov
  • Lt-Gen. Alexander Yuryevich Chaiko.

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 our Twitter thread prior to the debate, we pointed to two areas of responsibility: Rukban camp and Raqqa.

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.

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?

Monday 17 August 2020

Atrocity prevention needs to be at the centre of UK strategy



The UK Government is currently carrying out an Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. Read more about the review, and how to submit evidence, here. The deadline for submissions is Friday 11 September 2020.

Syria Solidarity UK was pleased to contribute to a joint submission to the review by members of the Atrocity Prevention Working Group. Read the full submission (PDF).

Why should UK national strategy focus on atrocity prevention?

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.

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.

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.

How the UK fails to prevent atrocities in Syria

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.

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.

Humanitarian intervention was invoked by the UK Government only in 2018 to bomb chemical weapons facilities, 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.

At the same time as UK aircraft were in Syrian airspace to fight ISIS, the UK failed to act in 2016-2018 to airdrop aid to Syrian civilians besieged by the Assad regime. In that same period, DFID was funding the use of humanitarian drones for medical supplies in African countries, and UN agencies were carrying out airdrops to regime held Deir Ezzor using JPADS remote guided parachutes. These technologies could have been used to at the very least bring medical aid to civilians suffering under Assad’s starvation sieges. Detailed viable proposals for large scale airdrops of food aid using drone aircraft were also put forward and rejected by the UK Government.

The UK’s failure is ongoing. As we have repeatedly highlighted, the UK-US Coalition and UK ally Jordan have been complicit in the forced displacement of civilians from Rukban camp, located in an area under Coalition military control.

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 Russian individuals with command responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.

UK-US Coalition forces have failed to make themselves accountable to civilian survivors of the Coalition’s military campaign in Raqqa and elsewhere, thereby worsening the normalisation of mass violence in Syria, and reinforcing an expectation of impunity for perpetrators on all sides.

The consequences of failure

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.

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.

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.

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.

For a safe and secure future, the UK needs to protect people from mass atrocities.

The UK needs to make accountable those responsible for atrocities, and UK forces and agencies need to be accountable to affected populations.

And the UK needs to work to prevent future atrocities, at home as well as abroad.

Friday 5 June 2020

Rukban camp: A child in need of urgent medical attention

Urgent medical attention for a child with bleeding – Rukban camp
05.06.2020

To: The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office


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.

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.

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.

Rukban camp is inside a 55-kilometre radius zone around Tanf base controlled by Coalition forces, including the Royal Air Force.

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.

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.

We therefore ask you as a matter of urgency:
  • To provide temporary access to healthcare services for the residents until the Jordanian border re-opens.
  • To provide medication for this child and facilitate blood tests to save his life.

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.

We call on you to act immediately to provide emergency healthcare services to avoid the death of more children.

Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire




BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP

Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.

The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.




Sunday 26 April 2020

Covid-19 threat to Rukban camp civilians: Letter to UK Government

The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreak and urgent medical evacuation – Rukban camp
21.04.2020



To:
The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office


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.

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.

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.

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.

We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:
  • 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.
  • Arrange for an urgent medical evacuation for the infant mentioned above.
  • Arrange for primary healthcare services and medication supplies for residents with chronic health conditions.

Please act with the highest levels of urgency to prevent avoidable deaths in Rukban camp.

Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire




BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP

Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.

The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.




Covid-19 threat to Rukban camp civilians: Letter to WHO/UNICEF/UNHCR

The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreak and urgent medical evacuation — Rukban camp
21.04.2020

To:
Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Mr. Kevin Kennedy, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis
Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Ms.Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
Mr. Manuel Fontaine, Director, Office of Emergency Programmes, UNICEF
Ms. Kelly Ann Naylor, Associate Director, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Section, Programme Division,UNICEF
Mr. Ted Chaiban, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, UNICEF
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General
Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA
Dr Jorge Martinez, World Health Organization Health Cluster Coordinator
Dr Mahmoud Daher, World Health Organization, Emergency Health Coordinator


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.

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.

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.

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.

We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:
  • 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.
  • Arrange for an urgent medical evacuation for the infant mentioned above.
  • Arrange for primary healthcare services and medication supplies for residents with chronic health conditions.

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.

Please act with the highest levels of urgency to prevent avoidable deaths in the Rukban camp.


Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire




BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP

Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.

The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.




Friday 27 March 2020

Urgent call for medical evacuations from Rukban camp


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.

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.

PLEASE HELP by alerting your MP.

You can email your MP via www.writetothem.com.

UPDATE 30 March 2020: Response by Minister of State for Middle East and North Africa added below.

UPDATE 2 April 2020: Two women have now had caesarean sections in Tanf base, Richard Spencer reports in the Times:

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.

“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.”



Urgent evacuation of four women with high-risk pregnancies

27.03.2020

[PDF version]

To:
The Rt Hon James Cleverly, Minister of State for Middle East and Africa
David Ashley, Head of Syria Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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.

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.

Rukban camp is inside a 55-kilometre radius zone around Tanf base controlled by Coalition forces, including the Royal Air Force.
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.

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.

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.

We therefore ask as a matter of urgency to:

  • 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.

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.

We call on you to evacuate these women within the next 48 hours, otherwise their lives and their unborn babies lives are at risk.

Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK
Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK
Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire



MINISTERIAL RESPONSE:

30 March 2020

Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Syria Solidarity UK Bronwen Griffiths, Syria Solidarity UK

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, Doctors Under Fire


Dear Dr Batool Abdulkareem, Bronwen Griffiths and Hamish de Bretton-Gordon,

Thank you for your letter of 27 March about evacuating women from Rukban camp for Internally Displaced Persons in southern Syria.

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.

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.

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.

The Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP
Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa



BACKGROUND ON RUKBAN CAMP

Rukban camp: A case study in reviewing the UK’s protection of civilians strategy
By Dr Kate Ferguson, Protection Approaches, June 2019.

The UK is complicit in a crime against humanity at Rukban camp
Syria Solidarity UK report, April 2019.




Thursday 26 March 2020

To DFID on Coronavirus in Syria

[PDF version]

The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreaks in IDP camps, Syria

To:
The Rt.Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan, International Development Secretary


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.

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.

To the UN and WHO on Coronavirus in Syria

[PDF version]

The imminent threat of Covid-19 outbreaks in IDP camps, Syria

To:
Mr. António Guterres, UN Secretary-General
Mr. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General
Mr. Kevin Kennedy, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis
Dr Jorge Martinez, World Health Organization Health Cluster Coordinator
Dr Mahmoud Daher, World Health Organization, Emergency Health Coordinator


Wednesday 4 March 2020

Questions and answers on the war in Syria and the crisis in Idlib


An Assad regime helicopter in flames over Idlib after being shot by Turkish-backed forces, 11 February 2020. Photo by Ghaith Alsayed, AP.

The Syrian war has lasted nine years, and can be hard for many to understand.

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 Twitter and on Facebook.

If you would like to write to your MP about any of these points, you can email them via writetothem.com.

• Why is there still a war in Syria?
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.

• What caused the crisis in Idlib?
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.

Two thirds of Idlib’s population are there because they were forcibly displaced from other parts of Syria.

• Why can’t people in Idlib escape into Turkey?
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.

• What can be done about refugees in Greece and Turkey?
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.

• What are Turkish forces doing in Idlib?
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.

UPDATE

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.

See map below.



• Would an Assad victory allow refugees to return home?
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.

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.

• What is the most urgent need for people in Syria?
The most urgent need is for civilian protection, firstly in Idlib, and also across the rest of Syria.

• Is humanitarian aid the best response?
Humanitarian aid is vital, but can’t stop attacks on civilians or stop forced displacement.

• Can the UK and allies stop Assad attacking civilians?
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.

Turkish forces are currently the only UK ally on the ground in Idlib with the capacity to protect civilians from Assad regime military attacks.

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.

• What about the Turkish government’s human rights abuses?
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.

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.

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.

• What about Russia?
The UK could introduce targeted sanctions against those Russian individuals who have been identified as having command responsibility for targeting hospitals and civilians.

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.

• Can the UK and allies act when the Security Council is divided?
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…”

The UK has previously asserted that use of force in a humanitarian intervention is permitted on an exceptional basis even without Security Council endorsement.

• What else can MPs do?
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.

• What else should the UK Government do?
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.

• What about the future?
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.

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.



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 Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Monday 2 March 2020

Urgent request to invoke European Directive on Temporary Protection

[PDF version]

To M. Charles Michel
President European Council
Rue de la Loi 175
B-1048 Bruxelles
Twitter @eucopresident
Fax +32 22816934

Cc: Sir Tim Barrow, UK Ambassador to the EU
Twitter @UKMisBrussels

2 March 2020

Dear M. Michel,

URGENT REQUEST TO INVOKE EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE ON TEMPORARY PROTECTION
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yours sincerely
Batool Abdulkareem
Syria Solidarity UK