‘Outraged’ by rising death toll in Syria, UN demands halt to all violence
May 16, 2013: Expressing grave concern at the continuing escalation of violence in
Syria, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, adopted a resolution reiterating
its call for rapid progress on a political transition, “which represents the best
opportunity to resolve the situation […] peacefully.”
Adopted by a vote of
107 in favour to 12 against, with 59 abstentions, the Assembly text expressed the
body’s outrage at the “rapidly increasing death toll” in Syria, which the UN estimates
to be in the tens of thousands. The resolution also strongly condemns the Syrian Government’s
increased use of heavy weapons, and also condemns ongoing “widespread and systematic
gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
This marks the
fifth resolution on the situation in Syria voted by the 193-member body since 2011,
when fighting broke out between the Government and opposition forces seeking to oust
President Bashar Al-Assad. The current measure welcomes the establishment last year
of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces “as effective
representative interlocutors needed for a political transition.”
The Arab-led
resolution requests the international community to provide “urgent” financial support
to host countries to enable them to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Syrian
refugees and affected communities. It also requests the UN Special Rapporteur on the
human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to submit a report to the Assembly
within 90 days “on the very dire situation” of IDPs in the country.
“Over
the past 800 days, the conflict has continued to escalate, threatening the establishment
of ethnic or sectarian fiefdoms—thus gravely imperilling the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of Syria,” said Assembly President Vuk Jeremic ahead of action on the text.
“Violence is begetting more violence; hatred, more hatred —carving deeper and deeper
wounds into Syria’s society.”
“If we are unable to do anything to stop this
tragedy, then how can we sustain the moral credibility of this Organization?” he asked,
adding: “It is high time to say ‘enough is enough;’ enough to complacency and enough
to fratricide.” He said that evidence of chemical weapons use is now coming to light.
“Succumbing to the despondency of the status quo “is a prescription for a disastrous
future” of multiplying crises in Syria and the wider Middle East region.”
President
Jeremic said that at least 80,000 have perished since the start of the hostilities,
most of these casualties believed to be civilians, and that the United Nations refugee
agency (UNHCR) has registered more than a million, now living in camps in Jordan,
Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, and beyond. Over four million more people have been internally
displaced since the fighting began.
“We should strive to build on the agreement
reached by the Action Group for Syria last June in Geneva, and reinvigorated a few
days ago in Moscow, to get the political process off the ground, enabling the citizens
of Syria to begin reconciliation and freely determine their nation’s future, he said.
Also speaking before the vote, Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja’Afari expressed
his surprise that the resolution was tabled under the Assembly’s agenda item on “prevention
of armed conflict” because he believed its content contradicted that purpose. Indeed,
it sought to escalate violence by legitimizing the provision of weapons to terrorists
in Syria and “by recognizing one faction of the opposition as the Syrian people’s
legitimate representative. “
Whenever a political solution looked likely,
he said, terrorist activity rose and Member States aborted their efforts to find a
political solution. Al-Qaida-linked terrorists were operating in Syria thanks to the
“involvement of intelligence agencies of well-known States” and they committed “unprecedented
savage crimes” and human rights violations.
Syria had reacted positively to
peace initiatives and he stressed his continued commitment to achieving a “Syrian-led
comprehensive national dialogue” that would include the opposition. He called on opposition
forces that rejected dialogue to adhere to the will of the “great majority of the
Syrian people,” which favoured a political solution.
Nearly 30 other delegations
took the floor, with some questioning “the motive behind the text – regime change
– which has been clear from the start,” while others urged delegations to “look at
the resolution honestly; look at the words on the page, which clearly call for a speedy
political transition in Syria.”
Still other speakers saw the resolution as
“counterproductive” in light of the understanding reached by US Secretary of State
John Kerry, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow earlier this month
to convene a an international meeting on a political transition in Syria. Those urging
the Assembly to reject the text said the resolution bestowed authority on the National
Coalition which could only be exercised by democratically elected officials