Ban Looks Back at Arab Spring in 2011

The United Nations lent its support to the aspirations of Arab Spring protesters in 2011, speaking forcefully against government repression through out the region and playing an essential role in the liberation of Libya, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said during an end of year press conference today. 

“This has been a remarkable year, in terms of our commitment to help those people who have been oppressed.” he said “Of course more needs to be done. It is quite sad and tragic that so many people have lost their lives and have been wounded in the course of these demonstrations and expressing their freedom of speech and aspirations.”

Ban, who will begin his second term as UN Secretary General in the new year, compared the Arab Spring uprisings to the independence movements of the 1950’s and the unification of Germany in the 1980’s. He said the UN needed to continue engaging with countries affected by important political and social change and urged greater cooperation to address the situation in Syria. 

 “ I hope the United Nations and international community will be able to take constructive and coherent action.” he said, adding that he also welcomed recent steps by the Arab League to condemn the violence. 

 Ban said he was increasingly concerned by humanitarian conditions and recent developments in Syria.

On Monday, after the Security Council was briefed by Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pilay, European and American diplomats blasted other Council members for failing to support a strong resolution against the Assad government.

Pilay reportedly provided Council members with updates on casualty figures, which she says has now reached over 5000, and gave an overview of some of crimes Syrian security forces have carried out against civilians, including the alleged killing of at least 300 children. 

The UN rights chief said she was alarmed by reports of a military build up around the city of Homs, although her office was unable to independently verify that information.

US Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said the Security Council’s failure to speak out against the Syrian government crackdown, after both the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly agreed to resolutions, was “unconscionable”,and urged Council members to stand “on the right side of history”.

Russia and China have both already used their veto at the Security Council to block a resolution on Syria. They say the UN has so far placed too much blame on the Assad government while ignoring attacks by armed protesters against security force personnel, and argue some governments are calling for regime change rather than a ceasefire. 

Moscow and Beijing have also said they are concerned a Security Council resolution could open the door to foreign military intervention as was the case in Libya.

Other Security Council members like India and South Africa have also repeatedly criticized the US and Europe for using the the cover of civilian protection in Libya to justify overthrowing the Gaddafi regime.

Ban defended NATO’s implementation of the Libyan resolution in his press conference today. The Secretary General said the UN worked closely with NATO to prevent rights abuses and civilian casualties and that ultimately, the Libyan people had led efforts to oust Gaddafi. 

Russia Blasts UN Rights Council Resolution on Syria, Defends Arms Sales

Russia and China continue to obstruct and criticize international attempts to address the situation in Syria. On Friday, Russian diplomats criticized a UN Human Rights Council resolution on Syria as an open appeal to military intervention.

The UN rights body resolution passed by a 37-4 margin, with China, Russia, Cuba and Ecuador voting against and six other countries abstaining. Russia’s envoy at the Geneva based body said the resolution was a one sided, politicized attempt to exacerbate the conflict. 

“We are particularly concerned at a number of provisions in the draft which could be interpreted as an open appeal to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs allowing for military actions including military intervention.” Ambassador Valery Loschinin told Council members after the vote.

Loschinin argued the resolution placed full blame on the Syrian government, while ignoring serious crimes carried out by armed anti-government protesters.

But UN Human Rights Chief Navi Pillay warned that failure to stop the Assad government’s “ruthless repression” could drive Syria into full out civil war. 

“The international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people.”she told Rights Council members. 

On Monday, a UNHRC mandated investigation concluded Syrian security forces had committed crimes against humanity against the country’s civilian population since anti-government protests broke out back in March. The report says the scale and patterns of attack indicates Assad government officials authorized or had knowledge of security force operations. 

Pillay says over 4 000 people have been killed since March, and more than 14 000 remain detained for their alleged role in the uprising. 

The UN rights chief also renewed her earlier calls for the Security Council to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court. 

But Russia’s Ambassador says his country does not consider the Assad government’s actions to be war crimes. 

 “We believe that there are no basis for calling Damascus’s activities crimes against humanity . In any event, this goes beyond the mandate of the Council.” 

 Loschinin said the Council mandated report on Syria was flawed, mainly because investigators weren’t allowed into the country to verify the situation first hand and instead had to rely on witness testimonies. 

In a statement this afternoon, American Ambassador Susan Rice welcomed the resolution  as part of the “ever expanding chorus of condemnation of the Asad regime’s brutality.”

 Rice said she was pleased all seven of the Rights Council’s Arab members had supported the resolution and that the Obama administration would continue to lead efforts to assist the Syrian people.

However it seems unlikely those efforts will result in Security Council sanctions Syrian opposition groups and Western governments have been calling for.

In October, Russia vetoed a European and US backed Security Council resolution on Syria, arguing Western powers would use it to justify military intervention.  

At the time, US Ambassador Susan Rice said the argument about preventing military intervention was:”a cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.”

Last week, the League of Arab States announced it had suspend Syrian from the organization and imposed its own set of sanctions against the Assad government.

In a press conference today marking Russia’s Presidency of the Security Council for the month of December, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said his government believes the Arab League’s recent actions are counter-productive. 

 “Its very disconcerting that it may damage the opportunity for the Arab League to play a mediating role and a pacifying role in the Syrian situation.”

Churkin also defended Russia’s weapons sales to Syria, arguing that Russia was a minor player in the international arms market compared to some other states and that all transactions were “guided by international norms, rules and laws.” 

“With Syria in particular we have arrangements which would not allow those weapons to be used by those who are not suppose to have them.” Churkin said. “You look at the region and you see reports that this particular country has signed for 120 billion dollars! Lets see things in perspective. If you go ahead and supply 120 Billion dollars of weapons to the region, why should you be worrying  about somebody supplying a few million dollars worth of military hardware?”

US, Rights Groups Call for Tougher Stand on Syria

Calls came today for concerted and tough international action against the Assad regime in Syria on the heels of a fresh report on repression by the Syrian government against its population.

A new UN-mandated report said the Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad and its security forces have coordinated a campaign of repression and violence against protesters that amounts to crimes against humanity.

Susan Rice, the US Ambassador to the UN today said the report backs up the idea “that the Assad regime has participated in outrageous and now well documented atrocities,” and suggested it was time for the Security Council “to revisit the question of what might be possible here in New York.” 

Last month, Russia and China used their veto at the Council to block a European and US backed resolution against Syria’s repression of anti-government protest.

Western diplomats and international human rights groups now say they hope the report, along with the Arab League’s decision over the weekend to impose sanctions on the Syrian government, will bring the issue back before the Security Council.

“We were more than disappointed that the effort of a couple of a months ago to pass a very mild resolution of condemnation was vetoed by two permanent members and other that were unable to support it.” US Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters outside the Security Council this evening, adding that with the the Arab League having acted and  evidence of repression  “becoming increasingly clear even for those who would rather deny it”, the patience of Syria’s neighbors and the international community had “evaporated“.

Amnesty International and a Syrian activist who fled the repression also called for strong Security Council action.

 At a press conference in New York this afternoon, Amnesty International and Syrian activists Catherine Altalli called on Security Council members to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court and enforce an arms embargo as well as an asset freeze on President Assad and his top officials.

Altalli, a member of the Syrian National Council opposition group, took part in anti-government protests during the first six month of demonstrations in Syria but has since had to flee to the US. She says officials for Syria’s opposition group are lobbying various Security Council members to vote in favor of sanctions against the Assad regime. 

Altalli says Russia and China have blocked significant action at the Security Council to protect their own national interests in the region but that in the long run, such measures will be counter-productive for both countries.

“Even if they[Russia and China] don’t agree at the Council, the government has maybe one or two years before it is gone but the Syrian people will stay forever and they will not forget.” she said after the press conference. 

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry report on Syria released today in Geneva found that Syrian state security forces and government backed militias have carried out extra-judicial executions, tortured and arbitrarily detained protesters without trial and systematically violated fundamental freedoms since anti-government demonstration broke out in March. 

 The report says that the scale, coordinated and repetitive nature of attacks on Syrian civilians has led investigators to believe they were sanctioned and carried out pursuant Assad government policy. 

 Authorities in Damascus refused to grant the Commission of Inquiry entry into Syria, and instead said they would provide it with the results of an independent Syrian investigation once it had been completed.The commission interviewed over 200 victims and witnesses of rights abuses, including defectors from Syria’s security forces .

The United Nations says that over 3500 people have been killed and several thousand more detained for their alleged role in the protests and uprising. In its report, the Commission also says it has information from reliable sources indicating that, as of November 9th, at least 256 children have died during the government crackdown.

Syrian officials maintain that they are fighting foreign-backed armed groups and that Syrian security forces have themselves suffered important casualties.

 While the report says it is aware of instances in which protesters carried out acts of violence and also acknowledges that  a group of military defectors calling itself the “Free Syrian Army” has claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces, it says the majority of protesters “were largely unarmed and determined to claim their rights and express their discontent peacefully.”

 Amnesty International representative Maha Abu Shama says there has been an increase in defections from state security forces to the Free Syrian Army,but that the intensity and scale of clashes did not constitute armed conflict. She said that only 50 of the 3500 reported deaths were caused by individual protesters but warned that if the Security Council failed to refer the situation to the ICC, chances of an escalation in conflict would grow.

China, Russia Block UN Resolution on Syria

After months of negotiations, UN Security Council members tonight failed to agree on a resolution condemning the Syrian government’s violent response to protests, with permanent members China and Russia using their veto to scrap the Western backed text. 

US Ambassador Susan Rice told Security Council members the Obama administration was outraged by the Council’s failure to address an “urgent moral challenge” and “a growing threat to regional peace and security”.

Nine Council members, including the US, France, UK, Portugal and Germany, voted in favor of the draft, while Lebanon, India, South Africa and Brazil chose to abstain.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told Council members his country’s decision to veto the proposed resolution wasn’t based on Russia’s strategic ties to the Syrian government or support of the crackdown against civilian protesters, but was instead a rejection of the West’s “philosophy of confrontation”.

 “We can’t agree with this unilateral accusatory bent against Damascus. We believe it unacceptable the threat of an ultimatum of sanctions against the Syrian authorities.” he said

Churkin also said Western countries had failed to take into account Moscow’s demand that foreign military intervention be clearly ruled out of the resolution.

Russia and several other Council members have criticized the NATO backed mission to Libya for exceeding its mandate of civilian protection by targeting non-military infrastructure and trying to overthrow the Gaddafi regime. 

“The situation in Syria cannot be considered in the Council apart from the Libyan experience. The international community is alarmed by statements that compliance with Security Council resolutions in Libya, in the NATO interpretation, is a model for future actions for NATO in implementing responsibility to protect.”  Churkin told Council members.

US Ambassador Rice said the Syrian people could now see which countries were ignoring their calls for democracy and siding with dictators.

“Those who oppose this resolution and give cover to a brutal regime will have to answer to the Syrian people and indeed to people across the region who are pursuing the same universal aspirations.” 

Rice also dismissed Russia’s claims about NATO’s  interpretation of the Libyan resolution and that the vetoed resolution could have been a pretext for military intervention in Syria.

“This is not about military intervention. This is not about Libya. That is a cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.”

US and Allies Want Tough UN Resolution on Syria

The US and European powers will work to get the Security Council to bring more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad even as the UN prepares a mission to Syria this weekend to gather information on the crisis there.

“We support further action in the Security Council through a resolution.”  US Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters after senior UN officials briefed the Security Council on the  situation. “More than ever, the Council should increase pressure on Assad’s regime.”

German, French, Portuguese and British diplomats at the UN joined the US in announcing they would be negotiating the adoption of a Security Council resolution to increase pressure on Syria,where security forces have been cracking down on demonstrators for months, possibly killing as many as 2,000. 

The proposed resolution may run into resistance from Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council.

British Deputy Ambassador Philip Parham said he didn’t want to rule out any elements of a possible resolution the Council might be able to agree on, but said they would likely be based on the type of measures adopted by the EU.

“Asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and entities particularly involved in perpetrating the violence and arms embargoes, those are the kind of measures which we believe will help to discourage those who are responsible and make it harder to continue the violence.” he said. 

A UN Human Rights Council fact-finding report on Syria found evidence Syrian security forces carried out “widespread” and “systematic” human rights violations that could amount to crimes against humanity, Navi Pillay,  UN Human Rights Chief told the Council members in closed door consultations. Pillay also suggested Council members consider referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The UNHRC report examines the situation in Syria from March 15th until mid July. Its fact finding team did not have access to Syria, but worked in neighboring countries, basing its findings on video evidence and eye witness accounts. Syrian ambassador to the UN Bashar Jaafari condemend the report for ignoring his government’s version of the events.

Pillay told reporters afterwards she was pleased the Security Council condemned the violence against civilians, but wasn’t holding out much hope it would act on a referral to the ICC. The UN Rights Chief says Security Council members seemed to be looking to President Assad to begin his political reform agenda and argued UNHRC should have a monitoring presence on the ground to ensure the implementation of reform measures she says have so far been undermined by continued right violations. 

The UN, aid agencies and International media organizations have largely been shut out of Syria since violence broke out in March.

 UN Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos told reporters she expected a humanitarian mission led by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to go to Syria this weekend and that the UN has been guaranteed full access for the Assad government.

“We would want to concentrate on those places were there have been reports of fighting so we can see for ourselves what is going on.” she said after the briefing.

The UN Security Council session on Syria  comes as the Obama administration announced today it was officially calling for Assad to leave office and strengthening sanctions against the Syrian authorities and their business interests. 

European leaders Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and David Cameron also released a joint statement calling on Assad to step down.

 Pressure against the Assad government has been slowly mounting since the Security Council agreed to issue a Presidential statement on August 3rd, condemning the use of force against civilians and calling for an immediate end to all violence. 

Saudi King Abdullah and Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan have since both called on Assad to put an end to the government crackdown.

The violence reportedly intensified in Hama and Homs over the past week, and military strikes in the port city of Latakia have allegedly killed several dozen and displaced thousands more since Saturday.

Despite the August 2nd Security Council Statement, a significant number of Council members have been hesitant to condemn the Syrian crackdown too strongly and argued the destruction of state property and death toll suffered by Syrian forces were evidence dangerous armed elements were part of the protests. 

India,Brazil and South Africa, a new diplomatic group referred to as IBSA, have also resisted Western led initiatives to exert more pressure on Syria at the UN. Last week diplomats for all three countries met with Assad to find a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari, speaking to reporters after the Security Council, accused Western powers of using the UN to promote their own interests but said other Security Council members would not support attempts to undermine Syrian sovereignty.

“There is no concrete outcome from this session because, thank God,we still have wise guys inside this Council, who do have different information and who do have contradictory information and do have solid and credible reports…since we are talking about reports.”