Badr Jamous, member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) political committee and Head of the Foreign Relations Office in the Syrian Negotiations Commission, delivered a speech before the UN Security Council on Friday during a session held in the Arria formula. The session aims to intensify international efforts and ratchet up pressure on the Assad regime to release detainees and disclose the fate of the missing and forcibly disappeared.
Jamous stressed that the root cause of the 11-year humanitarian tragedy in Syria is the Assad regime’s insistence on repression and brutality through its use of all types of weapons, including live bullets, barrel bombs and chemical weapons, in addition to the arrest of hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators.
He added that all the world witnessed the sheer magnitude of the Assad regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity through the Caesar photos and the leaked videos, including most recently the Guardian newspaper’s revelation of Al-Tadamon Massacre in Damascus.
Jamous pointed out that the crimes of arbitrary arrest and enforced disappearance were initiated by the Assad regime with the beginning of the peaceful demonstrations and affected hundreds of thousands of men, women, children and the elderly.
Moreover, Jamous said that the Assad regime still refuses to release detainees and disclose the fate of the forcibly disappeared despite all calls by the United Nations. He stressed that the regime shows total disregard to all international efforts to address this issue, which confirms that the regime is systematically executing detainees and the forcibly disappeared people in its prisons.
He indicated that the Assad regime did not abide by UN resolutions, especially Resolution 2254, which calls for the immediate release of detainees and the disclosure of the fate of the forcibly disappeared.
Furthermore, Jamous stressed that a political solution is the only way to achieve a sustainable peace, which must be preceded by non-negotiable humanitarian steps that constitute a solid foundation for making this solution a lasting one.
He added that any real political solution must start with the release of detainees, disclosing the fate of the missing, and holding those responsible to account, otherwise this solution will be nothing but illusions and a waste of time.
Jamous also stressed the need to secure more humanitarian aid for those in need in Syria, especially medical and food aid, so as to help the displaced overcome the harsh living conditions they are living in.
Jamous denounced attempts to blackmail the Syrian people in exchange for extending the UN resolution on the cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid, stressing the need to renew the resolution until a political solution based on Security Council resolutions is achieved.
He called for taking serious measures to enforce UN Resolution 2254 of 2015, pointing out that the formation of an international court to hold those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable will be an important step on the path to a political solution.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
