Prepared by the Syrian Network for Human Rights

Arab and International Human Rights and civil society organizations, which took part in the Doha-based conference (3-4 June, 2013) on developing the human rights mechanism of the Arab League reiterated their support for the Syrian People and Syrian rights activists.

The groups stressed their strong condemnation of the systematic human rights abuse, war crimes, and crimes against humanity inflicted upon civilians by the Syrian regime for the third year to suppress the Syrian People’s Revolution and their legitimate demands for freedom, dignity, justice, citizenship, and the rights of people to determine their own future, and choose their regime through a democratic system based on justice, freedom, the rule of law, and human rights.  The conference blamed the Syrian dictatorial regime for the ongoing armed conflicts, urging all sides to respect international humanitarian law and human rights.

Participant groups also denounced the international community’s reluctance to assume its responsibility in putting an end to violence against Syrian civilians, which left up to 90,000 killed (the vast majority of them are civilians that are not involved in the bloody armed conflict, including tens of thousands of women and children), hundreds of thousands of detainees, tens of thousands of enforced disappearances’ victims, in addition to five million displaced citizens and two million refugees in neighboring countries.

The conference urged the necessity of a serious and effective international intervention to stop the bloodshed and end the suffering of Syrians, stressing its support for any effort as long as it responds to the legitimate rights of the Syrian people in choosing its rulers and holding wrongdoers accountable for their offenses.  Calls for participating organizations by Arab governments across the Arab League urging the UN Security Council to take necessary and effective measures to stop the crimes of the Syrian regime, and support the transitional path to democracy is based on the international law of human rights, and to activate the provisions of international humanitarian law in accounting the criminals.

Participating organizations work to provide all support for the human rights movement in Syria in light of enormous and unlimited restrictions imposed by the dictatorial regime in Syria.  They express their solidarity with human rights defenders in Syria and appreciate the precious sacrifices made, and call on all Arab and foreign countries, organizations, international networks, and regional organizations to provide all forms of support and assistance to them.