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A Call for Humanitarian Intervention to
Protect Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan
27.3.2008 |
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Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights (OHCHR)
European Parliament
European Court of Human Rights
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
The International Committee of the Red Cross
March 27, 2008
No: 1/1/2708. March 21, 2008
A Call for Humanitarian Intervention to Protect
Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan
Since the Kurdish uprising in March 2004 Kurdish
people in Syrian Kurdistan have lived under the
terrorist conditions imposed by the security forces
of the Syrian regime. During the traditional
celebration of the Kurdish national holiday on 20th
March 2008 in the city of Qamishly the Syrian
security forces fired at celebrators and passers by,
including with explosive gunshots that are forbidden
in war, directing the shots at the upper part of the
body and head which caused the deaths of three
people and injured others, four of them badly. They
also prevented volunteers from delivering blood
supplies to hospitals for the relief of the wounded
people.
In addition the Syrian regime has committed
successive violations of the international agreement
for protection against torture and inhumane
punishment of 1984 which Syria signed up to in 2004
and of the international covenants of 1966 which it
signed in 1969 and it has violated even the
controversial Syrian Constitution and penal law. It
targets the Kurdish people as a nation, thus these
crimes are classified as dangerous crimes and they
constitute at least crimes against humanity. Since
it is impossible to sue those responsible who
represent the regime and who have already ignored
international calls to stop the violations against
human rights, today it has become necessary to ask
for international humanitarian intervention before
the situation deteriorates any further.
With an increasing number of murders, arbitrary
arrests and cruel torture to the point of death, we
are greatly concerned about the reduction in
peaceful conditions and an increase in violence
against civilians to a dangerous level and an
uncontrolled extent. We pointed out in our report in
July 2007 the plans of the Syrian government to
build new settlements for Arabs in Kurdish areas,
and that they had actually started to build military
bases and mobilize military forces and persuade
Arabic clans to act against Kurds, pushing the
situation to an explosive level.
The violent situation in Iraq makes it impossible to
estimate the effects on the Syrian side of the
border, where the armed Arabic clans are sympathetic
to those that supported the former Ba’ath regime in
Iraq, whose removal was supported by the Kurds in
Iraqi Kurdistan. This fact is being used by the
Syrian regime to incite its old opponents, the
Arabic clans, to confront its new opponents, the
Syrian Kurds. There have been two current occasions
which have resulted in violations against civilians
and the plundering of Kurdish shops:
1. In the two cities of Hasaka and Ser kany (Ras
el'en) after the Kurdish uprising in March 2004,
when tens of Kurdish civilians were killed and
injured and thousands were arrested and tortured.
2. In the city of Qamishly during the peaceful
demonstration of Kurds on 5 June 2005.
It is well-known that none of the Kurdish parties in
Syria are armed and act peacefully. However, with
the increase in dangerous crimes against Kurds it
should not be expected that this situation will
continue for ever without a violent reaction on the
part of the Kurds. The continuation of the situation
in this manner will inevitably create Kurdish armed
reactions which will be used by the regime to
justify violations on a wider scale.
The key to peace is in the hands of the
international community, which should take the
initiative, according to its humanitarian and
ethical duty towards the Kurdish people, who are
suffering from the fact that their homeland has been
taken to add to artificial states controlled by
racist and tyrannical governments.
We hope you will join your voice to ours and ask the
international community to deal with this situation
and save the lives of civilians and stop the
successive and dangerous violations against Kurds by
the Ba'ath regime. It is imperative that the regime
be forced to withdrew its special military and
security forces from Kurdish area, close its
security investigation centers, disarm Arab clans,
release the detainees, and put the Kurdish area
under international surveillance, as an effective
step to ensure that the situation will not
deteriorate to violations on a wider scale, in order
to avoid another situation like Dafur, with a late
intervention which would be too late to prevent such
crimes.
We are hopeful that the international community will
understand the scale of the
tragedy and the urgent need of the Kurdish people
for humanitarian intervention.
Lawyer of Halabja Center Against Genocide of Kurds
CHAK
Representative of Human Rights Organization of Syria
MAF in Kurdistan
www.chaknews.com
chak_org@yahoo.com
www.hro-maf.org
Me_humanrights@hotmail.com
+964 750 416 0884 phone
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise.
Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
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