Syrian activists on Thursday started a petition on the Avaaz website to put an end to the Assad regime institutions’ blackmail of the Syrian refugees abroad.
The petition was started under the title ‘Stop the blackmail and humiliation of the Syrian refugees at the Assad regime’s embassies and consulates in the host countries.” The activists called upon the UN Secretary-General, the President of the Security Council, the UN Security Council permanent members, and the Member States of the UN General Assembly to find a just solution for Syrians in the diaspora.
“The Assad regime continues its war against the Syrian people even after they were forced from their homeland,” the statement said. “The Syrian refugees are subjected to various forms of extortion, humiliation, and violations of their basic rights.”
“There is no need to remind you of the tens of thousands of Syrians who were tortured to death in the prisons of the Assad regime. You already have hundreds of thousands of documents. There is no need to remind you of the hundreds of thousands of barrel bombs the Assad regime dropped on the Syrian civilians, of the use of chemical weapons, the dozens of massacres against Syrian civilians, or of the crimes amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The statement added that “the Syrian refugees in the host countries who need to renew their passports are subjected to blackmail at the hands of the Assad regime which uses the issuance and renewal of passports to generate revenue and regain political legitimacy.”
The petition went on to say that the Syrian refugees are treated “inside these embassies with the utmost humiliation and with the absence of the basic human rights. These embassies are no different from the Assad regime’s security branches and intelligence agencies.”
The organizers of the petition called on the United Nations to work with the host countries to provide Syrian refugees with legal papers such as temporary travel and residence permits to spare them further blackmail, extortion and humiliation.”
Moreover, they called on the UN Secretary-General to find a just solution to the Syrian crisis and help bring about the desired political transition in line with the UN resolutions. They also called for the formation of a new government that treats all its citizens equally and one that respects human rights. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
