KHRP Welcomes Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights about Turkey’s Country Report

On 20 May 2011, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted concluding observations following its review of Turkey’s initial report on the implementation of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In advance of this review, KHRP had raised a number of concerns about Turkey’s compliance with its obligations under the Covenant by submitting a list of issues which can be found here <http://www.khrp.org/khrp-news/human-rights-documents/2010-publications/doc_details/256-kurdish-human-rights-project-submission-to-the-committee-on-economic-social-and-cultural-rights.html> . KHRP also attended the Committee’s review of Turkey’s report which took place in Geneva on 3 and 4 May 2011.   Read more

Tuesday 31 May 2011

UNICEF calls on Syria to investigate reported killings

UNICEF alarmed about reported extreme violence against children in Syria

NEW YORK, 31 May 2011 – “As the death toll in Syria increases, UNICEF today calls for immediate efforts by all parties to spare civilians, particularly children and women, the most vulnerable populations.

“Since mid-March, reports of children injured, detained, displaced and at times killed have been increasing.  While UNICEF cannot verify the reported cases and events, we are particularly disturbed by the recent video images of children who were arbitrarily detained and suffered torture or ill-treatment during their detention, leading in some cases to their death.  We call on the government to thoroughly investigate these reports and ensure that perpetrators of such horrific acts are identified and brought to justice.  Read more

UN Commissioner stresses the need for changes in Syria

Arab nations need to ensure sustainable transition to democracy – UN rights chief

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
30 May 2011 – The top United Nations human rights official today stressed the need to ensure that the “promising” first steps taken by some countries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to calls for reform are followed up with measures to ensure a sustainable transition to democracy.

“Experience shows that democratic transition is incomplete if it fails to include appropriate institutional reforms,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in her opening statement to the 17th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Read more

Turkish policy towards Kurds leads to boycott of Antalya Conference by Kurdish parties in Syria

Patrick Seal said on BBC today that the conference in Anatalya is to find leaders who can move into discussions with Bashar al-Assad.
…

Watching the hundreds of refugees pouring from Syria across the northern border of Lebanon, the Turkish government is now so fearful of a repeat of the great mass Iraqi Kurdish refugee tide that overwhelmed their border in the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war that it has drawn up its own secret plans to prevent the Kurds of Syria moving in their thousands into the Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey.

Turkish generals have thus prepared an operation that would send several battalions of Turkish troops into Syria itself to carve out a “safe area” for Syrian refugees inside Assad’s caliphate. The Turks are prepared to advance well beyond the Syrian border town of Al Qamishli – perhaps half way to Deir el-Zour (the old desert killing fields of the 1915 Armenian Holocaust, though speak it not) – to provide a “safe haven” for those fleeing the slaughter in Syria’s cities. [...] Read more

Monday 30 May 2011

Kurds in detention in Syria

Al-Qamishli: Poet arrested at the Turkish border

KURDWATCH, May 29, 2011—On May 25, 2011, the political activist and poet Farhan Jamil ‘Abdulqadir (b. 1956, married, seven children) was arrested at the Nusaybin/al-Qamishli border crossing. He was planning to visit family members in Turkey. The circumstances of his arrest are as yet unknown.

Al-Qamishli: Yekîtî members transferred to al-Qamishli

KURDWATCH, May 28, 2011—Hasan Ibrahim Salih, Ma’ruf Ahmad Mula Ahmad, and Muhammad Ahmad Mustafa were transferred from Damascus to the prison in al-Qamishli on May 25, 2011. Following the abolishment of the Supreme State Security Court in Damascus, the case of the leading members of the Kurdish Union Party in Syria (Yekîtî) now rests with the Court of Inquiry in al-Qamishli. The first hearing there will take place on May 29. [Further information on the case] Video: ???? ?????? ??????- ?ore?a Ciwanên Kurd ?????? ????????? ?????? ( ??? ???? ? ????? ??? ???? ? ???? ????? ) ???? ????? ?????? ????????? 2011/5/29 Read more

Sunday 29 May 2011

We are all Hamza Alkhateeb: Hamza’s father has been arrested by the Syrian regime and his family is saying the father is being forced to say that his son was killed by “terrorists”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pypg2SbC8ag&feature=player_embedded

Wissam Tarif:

A children demo in #Daraya in solidarity with #Hamza http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QW6Dp4vT_A&feature=player_embedded Read more

Arab revolutions and the world’s hypocrisy

We the undersigned condemn any hypocritical and selective approach to the Arab revolutions. While Syrians discover mass graves (Report, 18 May), the so-called “international community” still lacks consensus on asking the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to leave despite the mounting death toll already surpassing Libya’s before the Nato campaign. The death of more than 800 Syrian demonstrators and the arrest of thousands renders al-Assad’s rule illegitimate. We call on people around the globe to defy their respective governments’ hypocrisy, to delegitimise the Syrian dictatorship and hold people in position of power responsible for crimes committed against the Syrian people. Read more

Saturday’s Child Hamzeh al-Khatib Revolution 28 May 2011

S.N.N | We are all Martyrs of Houran: Syrian Security Forces broke into the house of the child Hamzah Ali Alkhateeb and arrested a relative. We also had news that Hamzah’s father and brothers knew that the Security Forces will be coming after them so they left the house and hid from them. Read more

Hamza al-Khateeb aged 13 years old tortured and killed in Syria

This is the story of a 13-year-old healthy boy named Hamza AlKhateeb. Hamza’s cousin was killed on the hands on the Syrian regime a few days before he had decided to go out in a peaceful demonstration with other people in his area. He was arrested on April 29, 2011 by the Syrian regime forces. A month had passedby with his family not knowing where he is, or if or when will he be released. On May 27, 2011, he was released to his family as a dead body. Upon examining his body, the signs of torture are very clear.

His skin was peeling off his hands and feet, and his neck was broken. There were a few bullets in his body that were used as a way of torture rather than to kill him with. Clear signs of severe physical abuse appeared on the body such as marks done with hands, sticks, and shoes. Hamza’s penis was also cut off. That is sadder than this story is the fact that it is not the only one. In fact, it is one of many. There are many men, women, elderly, and children that have been arrested and not back. The death toll has surpassed 1200 people since the beginning of this revolution. Group graves have been discovered in the city of Daraa and the Syrian regime is still trying to cover the facts and deny the evil acts that were committed towards the Syrian people.

We, the Syrian people, request the United Nations to take a firm stand against the Syrian Government. We also request the United Nations and Human Rights Organizations to do a full investigation of cases such as Hamza’s and many others. We, the people of Syria, deserve the right to live a free dignified life, and we are calling upon every free soul to help us achieve that.

Very disturbing video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eviR_Yqg4EI

1 minute mourning for the child Hamza Al Khateeb: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=132330486845478

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