The Rights Forum

Prominent global leaders call for immediate UN action to stop Syria killing

Nieuwsbericht, 14 maart 2012

Over 40 prominent leaders from across politics and academia in over 25 countries have today called on the UN to take decisive action to stop the killing in Syria, calling the crisis ‘one of the worst cases of deliberate violence against a civilian population that we have seen in recent years.’

In a letter published in today’s Financial Times to coincide with a meeting of Foreign Ministers at the UN Security Council, the group, including former Heads of State, former Foreign Ministers and Nobel Peace Prize winners states that ‘the moral obligation to bridge the current impasse lies with members of the UN Security Council. Let there be no mistake, the credibility and international standing of any nation standing idle in the face of the avoidable tragedy unfolding in Syria will be severely damaged.’

The signatories, including Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President of the Federative Republic of Brazil; F W de Klerk, Former President of South Africa; Marwan Muasher, Former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan; David Miliband, former UK Foreign Minister; Richard von Weizsäcker , Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany;  and Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate from Liberia warn that ‘splits among the international community have provided the Assad regime with a license to kill’ and demand that, ‘this license must be withdrawn’.

The letter urges the Russian government to ‘rejoin collective international efforts to bring a swift end to the conflict and restore peace and stability to Syria and its surrounding region. ’ 

The signatories, including those who come from Security Council member states US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, India, South Africa and Guatemala,  fear that ‘the current impasse in international strategy is leading to an escalation in initiatives, such as arming the regime and the opposition, which could prolong the conflict and the suffering’. 

The letter urges the international community to provide strong and unanimous backing to Kofi Anan, United Nations-Arab League Special Envoy for Syria, ‘to engage closely with all governments and non-state actors, including Russia and China, to over come the present paralysing divide.’

The letter calls on the Security Council to unite and pass a resolution by consensus:

1.    Calling on the Syrian authorities to cease all unlawful attacks against its population immediately, remove abusive military and security forces from cities and inhabited areas, guarantee peaceful protests do not come under attack and release all political prisoners and those held under arbitrary arrest from the beginning of the uprising to the present day. All other actors should also immediately cease all use of violence.

2.    Urging the Syrian government to facilitate the delivery of independent and impartial emergency aid, ensure the evacuation of injured people in places of conflict, and call for effective access for humanitarian organizations. Particular attention should be directed to safe access to civil hospitals and adequate delivery of medical care in accordance with international law.

“It is appalling that the violence in Syria has continued unabated for one year. Foreign Ministers meeting today in New York must awake the Security Council from its slumber, unify behind the leadership of the Arab League and pass a UN Security Council resolution by consensus. This horror must end,” said Lord Paddy Ashdown, Former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the signatories to the letter.

 

Signatories:

Andreas van Agt, Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Lyudmila Alexeyeva, Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Author, Ghana
Hon Lord Paddy Ashdown, Former High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, UK
Lloyd Axworthy, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada
Bertrand Badie, Professor, Sciences-Po Paris
Robert Badinter, Former Minister of Justice, France
Pascal Boniface, Director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS), France
Dr. Rony Brauman, Former President of Médecins Sans Frontières, France
Sir Tony Brenton, Former UK Ambassador to Russia (2004-8)
Hans van den Broek, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and European Commissioner for External Relations
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Former President of the Federative Republic of Brazil
LGen the Honourable Roméo A Dallaire (Ret'd), Senator, Former Commander of UNAMIR, the United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda, Canada
Basil Eastwood, Former UK ambassador to Syria (1996-2000)
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate (2003) - Iran
Umberto Eco, Author, Italy
Jan Egeland, Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Norway
Ali Fakhro, Chair of the Arab Democracy Foundation, Bahrain
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate (2011) - Liberia
Justice Richard Goldstone, Former Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, South Africa
David Grossman, Author, Israel
Jean Claude Guillebaud, Former President, Reporters Sans Frontières, France
Jürgen Habermas, Philosopher, Germany
Stéphane Frédéric Hessel, Former UN Ambassador, architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, France
Bianca Jagger, Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, Nicaragua
Kamal Jendoubi, President of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network, Tunisia
Baroness Glenys Kinnock, Former UK Minister for Africa and the United Nations (2009-10)
F W de Klerk, Former President of South Africa
Zaki Laïdi, Professor, Sciences-Po Paris
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate (1976) – Ireland
Clovis Maksoud, Former Ambassador of the League of Arab States, Lebanon
Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate (1992) – Guatemala
Dr. Pierre Micheletti,  Former Président of Médecins du Monde, France
David Miliband, Former UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Marwan Muasher, Former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan
C.S.R. Murthy, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
Ana de Palacio, Former Foreign Minister, Spain
Rt Reverend Stephen Platten, Bishop of Wakefield, UK
Hans-Gert Pöttering, Former President of the European Parliament, Germany
Reubens Ricupero, former Secretary General of UNCTAD; former Minister of Finance of Brazil
Peter Singer, Philosopher, Australia
K.C. Singh, Former Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, India
Aleksander Smolar, Chairman Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland
Pär Stenbäck, Former Foreign Minister, Finland
Richard von Weizsäcker, Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997) - USA
Mokhtar Yahyaoui, President of Tunisia's Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary

The signatories are from the following countries: Netherlands, Russia, Ghana, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Brazil, Iran, Italy, Norway, Liberia, South Africa, Germany, Ireland, Guatemala, India, Spain, Poland, United States, Tunisia, Jordan, Finland, Israel, Lebanon, Bahrain, Nicaragua and Australia.

Read the original letter here (pdf).