Noura Al Ameer: Immediate Measures Must be taken to Save Syrian Children

Noura Al Ameer, vice president of the Syrian Coalition, said that “children all over the world are goaded by the fear of boogeymen and ghosts, except in Syria where children are goaded by fear of the police and the government,” during a session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Al Ameer headed the Syrian Coalition’s delegation that also included Hisham Marwa, head of the legal committee. She opened her speech in the session that discussed violations of the children’s rights saying: “I come from Syria, where Hamza al-Khatib was tortured to death. Syria, where every Syrian child is a potential victim. Syria, where all the world’s constitutions and charters of human rights failed to do justice to the most vulnerable victims. I come from Syria whose alleys have lost any traces of childhood, and whose public parks have lost their jasmine flowers. Children in my country are denied the feeling of safety that come from uttering the words “mom” & “dad.” Their only crime is that their parents spoke up demanding freedom and a state of law and justice. I speak to you on behalf of the Syrian children whose faces were covered with blood and who were suffocated to death by Assad’s chemical weapons. Assume your responsibilities; your humanitarian credibility is at stake. History will bear witness to what is being done to the children of Syria and it will not have mercy on anyone.” Al Ameer called for taking immediate action to save Syrian children from Assad’s chemical weapons, wondering: “Has the time not come for those countries supporting the murderer of children to see through the eyes of Syrian children? Has the time not come for them to stop the killing machine that has been harvesting the lives of Syrian children? Has the time not come for the world’s humanitarian and legal organizations to put an end to these unspeakable child abuses in Syria? On behalf of the 3,000,000 children who are deprived of education, on behalf of the  2,400 schools and kindergartens demolished by the Assad regime, on behalf of hundreds of schools and kindergartens which were turned by Assad into detention and torture centers, on behalf of children’s parks which Assad turned into military barracks, on behalf of 17,000 children who were killed by Assad’s forces, on behalf of the conscience of humanity, on behalf of Hamza al-Khatib, the boy who was forbidden by Assad’s forces to pronounce his father’s name, we call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and stop the killing machine that has been harvesting the lives of Syrian children for more than three years. John Kennedy, the former American president, once said that “our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” Why do today’s politicians and leaders no longer care about these words? Why is the world failing to respond to the appeal of John F. Kennedy? Unlike the rest of children in the world, Syrian children’s attention is no longer drawn to toys or candies, but what they need is international justice and to be given the right to live, learn, receive medical treatment and vaccines. Epidemics that have long disappeared such as polio and measles have reemerged in Syria. Syrian children who survived Assad’s chemical attack are now dying of hunger as a result of the crippling sieges imposed by regime forces aimed at forcing people into giving up their demands for freedom.” Commenting on the recruiting of child fighters in the Syrian war, Al Ameer stressed that “the Assad regime’s deliberate targeting of schools and the blockades it imposes on the rebellious areas have left many children with no other option but to be used in the armed conflict. To put an end to this there is a need to address the root of the problem, which is the Assad regime’s bombardment of civilians using barrel bombs and all kinds of weapons. Children in Syria will go back to their normal lives when they are provided with a pen and a notebook to learn.” At the end of her speech Al Ameer thanked the United Nations “for giving the Syrian children the opportunity to deliver their voice to the conscience of mankind. I would like to quote Mahatma Gandhi who said that “if we want to make real peace in this world, we must start with our children.” The injustices witnessed by Syria at the hands of Bashar al-Assad, and the unprecedented international silence towards war crimes committed by Assad are more than enough to transform every Syrian child into a ticking time bomb on the verge of explosion. Finally, I say to you on behalf of the Syrian children: save us before it is too late.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)