The Syrian Opposition Coalition’s Caesar Act Follow-up Team held a telecommerce with representatives of 32 civil society organizations to discuss the latest developments related to the implementation of the Act and its possible impact against the Assad regime and its backers.
In addition to the exchange of views, representatives of civil society organizations put forward a number of concrete proposals and asked a number of questions that focused on benefiting from the Act in the political aspect.
SOC’s members answered all questions as they stressed the importance of coordination with civil society organizations in helping implement the Act and achieve the desired goals.
They pointed out that it is the duty of everyone to raise awareness by clarifying the aspects of the Caesar Act for all segments of Syrian society, especially traders and businessmen. They warned that this segment could be prone to Caesar Act through due to their commercial operations in Syria.
They stressed that the Assad regime is to blame for the collapse of the Syrian economy and the extremely dire conditions the Syrian people are going through after it depleted the country’s resources on its military operations which destroyed factories, markets, state institutions and infrastructure.
SOC’s members underscored that the Assad regime is trying to divert attention from its crimes and corruption as well as blame the Caesar Act for the deteriorating economic conditions and the collapse of the Syrian pound. They made it clear that the Syrian pound fell to around 3,000 pounds against the US dollar even before the Act took effect.
They pointed out that imposing sanctions on the Assad regime was the responsibility of the United Nations and the Security Council in order to put an end to the regime’s crimes against civilians and force the regime to sit at the negotiating table. They noted that Russia’s disruption of international efforts in Syria prompted the United States to adopt this Act.
Participants in the discussions agreed to hold further consultative meetings to discuss the latest developments and enhance coordination with the aim of formulating joint practical steps whose outputs would serve the Syrian people and alleviate their suffering. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
