I am a Syrian American, and I have an urgent message. You do not have the full story on Syria. The truth will shake you to the bone.
The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, is committing genocide.
Assad has deliberately erased at least 200,000 Syrian civilians from existence. Most of them died for the “crime” of sharing the same ethnicity, religion and neighborhood as pro-democracy protesters. It is true that the overwhelming majority of these victims come from a single ethno-religious group (Sunni Arabs), but this is not about religion. This is about a dictator who is willing to gas children to stay in power.… Seguir leyendo »
Si l’instabilité climatique représente l’une des menaces les plus importantes pour l’avenir de notre humanité, cette considération est principalement basée sur le fait que nous vivons sur une terre dont les éléments de survie (climat, ressources naturelles, etc.) sont interconnectés et leurs souffrances sont «transmissibles» à travers les continents, peu importent les distances. En tant que médecin, il m’est difficile de ne pas faire valoir la notion de la souffrance comme «un signal d’alarme» qui doit être pris au sérieux pour sauver l’ensemble du corps. Une évidence de la responsabilité partagée et indivisible qui fait des accords de Kyoto un espoir pour les générations à venir.… Seguir leyendo »
En Idlib se está desarrollando un nuevo desastre humanitario, uno de los peores de la crisis siria que, en casi una década, ha causado demasiados desastres para llevar la cuenta. El régimen sirio continúa su estrategia de reconquistar militarmente el país a cualquier precio, sin consideración hacia las consecuencias para los civiles sirios. Desde diciembre, sus operaciones en la zona noroeste han aumentado de intensidad, contando con el respaldo de la aviación rusa. Los incesantes ataques aéreos y el bombardeo con bombas de barril han obligado a casi un millón de sirios a huir en apenas unas semanas. Las infraestructuras de asistencia están saturadas.… Seguir leyendo »
Eight years after the onset of the civil war, international justice has done little for Syria, but Syria has done a lot for international justice. Strategic accountability efforts are yielding important results. Sweden, France, and especially Germany are at the forefront of investigating and prosecuting Syrian perpetrators of international crimes. These states are flexing their ability to use universal jurisdiction, whereby perpetrators of international crimes can be prosecuted in these states irrespective of their citizenship or where their crimes were committed.
In addition to the modest number of prosecutions in Europe, there have been a handful of other important developments in the pursuit of accountability for atrocities committed in Syria.… Seguir leyendo »
The following photographs contain disturbing content. They show people whom Human Rights Watch understands to have died in the custody of the Syrian government, either in detention facilities or after being transferred to a military hospital.
—The Editors
The war in Syria is an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe; it represents, too, the greatest political failure of the past decade—one that historians might well come to regard as the shame of our generation, for Westerners and Middle Easterners alike. Despite its savagery, the war has been extensively—though, critics say, ineffectively—documented in still photographs, videos, films, and on cellphones. This criticism rests on a misunderstanding of the relationship between photography and politics—a relationship that has been romanticized since Robert Capa and his comrades went to Spain, and that led to some of Susan Sontag’s sharpest insights in On Photography.… Seguir leyendo »
The Trump administration is declaring victory after striking three Syrian government chemical weapons sites. But the White House hasn’t learned the lessons of last year’s “pinprick” strikes on the Assad regime. Unless some sort of accountability is imposed on the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of his own people in the cruelest and most illegal of ways is sure to continue apace.
“Mission Accomplished!” Trump tweeted this morning, praising what he called a “perfectly executed strike” on the Assad regime conducted jointly with the French and British militaries. Tactically, it did seem successful enough. Syria’s oft-exaggerated air defense capabilities turned out to be impotent.… Seguir leyendo »
2017 will mark the sixth anniversary of the Syrian conflict -- a war that has left nearly half a million dead and forced millions of others from their homes.
The new year brought a ceasefire brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey. But the ceasefire is serving as cover for "business as usual". The Syrian government continues to use illegal means of war to crush political opponents and citizens, forcing them to accept an uncertain and unjust "peace". But peace achieved by these means cannot, and will not, hold.
This should come as no surprise. Fundamental flaws are baked into this agreement.… Seguir leyendo »
For all the talk of justice for mass atrocities in Syria and myriad mechanisms aimed at forcing the international community to bring Syrian war criminals to account, the world has very little to show. But several recent developments at the United Nations General Assembly could lay the foundation for the day when justice in Syria becomes possible.
With the leadership of small and middle powers such as Lichtenstein and Canada, the U.N. General Assembly achieved something historic and unprecedented on Dec. 21: It voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution creating “the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Those Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011.”… Seguir leyendo »
Depuis des semaines, les commentaires médiatiques et politiques annoncent, à leur manière, le sacrifice inéluctable de la population d’Alep, martyrisée depuis cinq ans.
Aux victimes syriennes depuis 2012, et notamment à celles d’Alep, affamées et torturées sous un déluge de feu depuis la mi-novembre, peu importe de savoir si ce que le pouvoir de Bachar Al-Assad leur fait subir est un génocide, un crime contre l’humanité ou un crime de guerre. C’est la même barbarie, les mêmes meurtres et terreurs, les mêmes pilonnages d’hôpitaux, les mêmes bombes incendiaires, largages de barils d’explosifs sur les habitations ou attaques au chlore – la fameuse ligne rouge à prétendument ne pas franchir, dixit Barack Obama – qui les anéantissent.… Seguir leyendo »
I was a teenager when I faced the worst of humanity. I remember our house burning to the ground and my family fleeing Srebrenica, hoping against hope for a chance to live. I remember the torture, and the smell of blood. I didn’t know it yet, but I was living through the worst genocide in Europe since the second world war. And afterwards, I remember the promises of “never again”.
Those promises are being broken, hour after hour, day after day, in the deepening horror of east Aleppo. More than 500,000 people have died since war began in 2011. Imagine it.… Seguir leyendo »
Earlier this month, a health center in Aleppo, Syria, run by Qatar Red Crescent was struck by bombs dropped from a helicopter. Two patients were killed, eight others were wounded and half the facility was destroyed. Qatar was forced to close the center. Dr. Hashem Darwish, the head of the health program at the Qatar Red Crescent’s mission in Turkey, called the attack a war crime.
This was the very phrase the secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, used a few days earlier to describe the escalating violence deployed by the Syrian government and its allies. “Those using ever more destructive weapons know exactly what they are doing,” said Mr.… Seguir leyendo »
En 2015, dans la nuit du 2 au 3 octobre, l’hôpital de Médecins sans frontières (MSF) à Kunduz, en Afghanistan, était bombardé par les forces américaines. Quarante-deux malades et soignants ont péri dans cette attaque. Malgré le fait que les Etats-Unis aient endossé la responsabilité de ce qu’ils ont qualifié d’erreur, MSF exigeait une enquête internationale indépendante.
Celle-ci n’a pas eu lieu mais les Etats-Unis ont partiellement déclassifié leur rapport d’enquête interne. Celui-ci reconnaît non pas une, mais une véritable cascade d’erreurs humaines, techniques, procédurales… En évacuant l’hypothèse de l’intentionnalité, ce rapport révèle une réalité tout aussi effrayante. Il nous oblige à examiner les défaillances systémiques de l’interprétation et de l’application du droit humanitaire dans la conduite des hostilités, qui conduisent à la multiplication des attaques d’hôpitaux.… Seguir leyendo »
Tan pronto como los observadores desarmados de la ONU abandonan una ciudad siria, las fuerzas represoras del régimen de Bachar el Assad reanudan el matadero, triturando el alto el fuego falsamente aceptado por el gobierno represor pocas semanas atrás. Nueva burla a los esfuerzos del mediador de la ONU, Kofi Annan, que nuevamente ha declarado intolerable la actuación gubernamental. Pero esa actuación continúa con toda desvergüenza porque el régimen opresor se sabe firmemente respaldado por Rusia y China, y muy especialmente por la primera, la Rusia de Putin.
Este último, al ser interrogado ante las cámaras por su sistemática posición favorable al Gobierno sirio en el Consejo de Seguridad, respondió en tono airado y con inaudita desfachatez: “Nuestra posición sobre Siria está enfocada a la futura reconciliación de aquella sociedad.”… Seguir leyendo »
Avec ses 8 375 victimes recensées, le génocide de Srebrenica, commis en juillet 1995, est devenu la référence du crime de masse et de l'indignité à ne pas reproduire. Quitte à le banaliser quand une population en est menacée (comme c'est le cas depuis des mois en Syrie), les politiques répètent : "Nous ne laisserons pas un nouveau Srebrenica se reproduire."
Lors de la 20e commémoration du début de la guerre en Bosnie - le 6 avril 1992, quand les forces de Radovan Karadzic mitraillèrent des manifestants pacifistes dans Sarajevo -, force est de reconnaître qu'aucun massacre ne ressemblera plus à celui de Srebrenica : aucun n'oserait reproduire le déni, le "on ne savait pas, on ne pouvait pas savoir" des responsables occidentaux en 1995.… Seguir leyendo »
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