NCB: Observations regarding the invitation to the Istanbul conference

National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria – NCB: Observations regarding the invitation to the Istanbul conference.

A number of activists and opposition figures including members of NCB have received unsigned emails which call for their participation in the Syrian opposition conference to be held in Istanbul on 26 March 2012. The following names were attached to the emails: Khalid Bin Mohammad al-Attiyah – Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Qatar, and Halit Çevik –  Ambassador, Ministry of State for Foreign Affairs of Turkey. The letter states that this is based on the call from the Arab States Ministerial Council issued on 12 November 2011, and the Chairman’s conclusions of the International Conference of the Friends of the Syrian People which was held in Tunisia on 24 February 2012. The letter says this is: ‘’a conference which will bring all major opposition groups and figures committed to a peaceful political transition in Syria.”

Commenting on this call, we point out the following: Read more

Syria: Government Uses Homs Tactics on Border Town

Open Letter to the Leaders of the Syrian Opposition

We are writing to express our concern about increasing evidence, as described below, of kidnappings, the use of torture, and executions by armed Syrian opposition members and strongly urge you to work to ensure that all opposition members refrain from engaging in these unlawful practices.   Read more

Syria: Armed Opposition Groups Committing Abuses

End Kidnappings, Forced Confessions, and Executions
(New York, March 20, 2012) – Armed opposition elements have carried out serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today in a public letter to the Syrian National Council (SNC) and other leading Syrian opposition groups. Abuses include kidnapping, detention, and torture of security force members, government supporters, and people identified as members of pro-government militias, called shabeeha. Human Rights Watch has also received reports of executions by armed opposition groups of security force members and civilians. Read more

Syria: Towards a Political Solution

SUMMARY: With violence escalating and Bashar al-Assad looking unlikely to be pushed from power soon, it is becoming more urgent than ever to find a political solution in Syria. But it is also increasingly apparent that a political resolution is, at minimum, dependent on Russian acquiescence. Without pressure from Moscow, the regime will neither relent in its use of violence nor enter into a political process. Thus engaging with Russia may be the only way of halting the bloodshed and stopping Syria from falling into a deep and prolonged civil war. The newly appointed UN-Arab League representative to Syria, Kofi Annan, should therefore begin a political process that gives Russia a lead role and includes direct negotiations with the regime despite the horrific nature of its crimes.

An international contact group that includes representatives of Russia, the regime and the opposition, as well Syria’s neighbours, should meet in order to set out the parameters for a ceasefire. This should be followed by talks, ideally in Syria, which are not preconditioned on Assad’s immediate demise. Europe, for its part, must solidly back Annan’s efforts, empowering him to lead a political process that concedes to Russian demands for the sake of ending the bloodshed. At the same time, however, it should also continue to strengthen the political
opposition, while widening sanctions, to increase the attractiveness of a political solution.

Read more

Newroz 2012 a Festival of Freedom

The festival of Newroz on 21 March, which the Kurds will soon be celebrating in their millions, is a key date in the Kurdish cultural calendar and, over recent decades, it has taken on extra political significance as a rare occasion when Kurds can freely come together to express their identity as a people and demonstrate their strength of feeling and unity of purpose for the basic demands of peace, freedom and their democratic rights.

This year it has been announced that the main celebrations in North Kurdistan will take place in Diyarbakir on Sunday 18 March. A mass turnout is expected for what will be a major public display of resistance by Kurds against the repressive measures of the Erdogan government. Celebrations marking Newroz are to be held also in 127 different locations this year under the slogan, ‘Enough is enough, either freedom or freedom.’  Read more

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

REUTERS: Rami Abdulrahman, a Syrian shop-keeper in a bleak English city, has become for many the face of Syria’s revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. He is a lone warrior.

Thousands of miles away from home, in a small rented house in Coventry, Abdulrahman runs Syria’s most prominent activist group which has become central to the way the uprising is being reported – and understood – in the world.

Amnesty International: New report finds systemic and widespread torture and ill-treatment in detention

People caught up in the massive wave of arrests in the wake of the Syrian uprising have been thrust into a nightmarish world of systemic torture, a new report by Amnesty International says today.

The scale of torture and other ill-treatment in Syria has risen to a level not witnessed for years and is reminiscent of the dark era of the 1970s and 1980s.

Released a day before the one-year anniversary of the start of mass protests in Syria, ‘I wanted to die’: Syria’s torture survivors speak out documents 31 methods of torture or other ill-treatment by security forces, army and pro-government armedshabiha gangs, described by witnesses or victims to Amnesty International researchers in Jordan in February 2012.  Read more

Syria: Army Planting Banned Landmines

Human Rights Watch: Witnesses Describe Troops Placing Mines Near Turkey, Lebanon Borders

(New York, March 13, 2012) – Syrian forces have placed landmines near the borders with Lebanon and Turkey in recent weeks and months, Human Rights Watch said today, based on reports and confirmations from witnesses and Syrian deminers. Civilian casualties have already resulted, the witnesses said. Read more

Syrian civilians continue to bear brunt of ‘collective punishment’ – UN rights panel

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of violence in Syria, the head of the United Nations-appointed panel probing human rights abuses in the country said today, noting that the use of force by security forces and the military against armed groups has often led to collective punishment.

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