Syrian activists have launched a petition calling on the United Arab Emirates to rescind its invitation to the Assad regime to participate in the 28th session of the World Climate Summit. The petition, initiated by the “Syrian Campaign” organization, which specializes in coordinating campaigns and initiatives for Syria, has garnered support from over 5,500 individuals worldwide.
The petition underscores concerns that extending an invitation to the Assad regime represents a missed opportunity to hold it accountable for the atrocities committed against civilians. This invitation, the first for the regime on the international stage since 2011, could potentially be exploited to whitewash its crimes against humanity.
The petition warns that granting Assad access to UN climate talks could be seen as a “dangerous betrayal of the victims of atrocities” in Syria, with every handshake and photo op serving as a tacit endorsement of his regime’s actions.
The petition vehemently rejects the notion that the Assad regime is genuinely committed to climate issues and protecting the planet. It points out that over the past decade, the regime has laid siege to and bombed Syrian towns and cities, causing widespread devastation, displacing millions of people, and deliberately destroying farmers’ fields to starve the Syrian population.
Moreover, the petition highlights the regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons on 222 occasions over the past 12 years, emphasizing its primary objective as being the elimination of any perceived threats to its authority. In the last month alone, regime forces have targeted seven hospitals and 13 schools, resulting in the deaths of 66 civilians in northwest Syria.
The petition calls upon the UAE and the United Nations to take a united stance against granting the Assad regime a platform at the climate summit, as it equates to endorsing impunity and enabling crimes against humanity. This move, it stresses, undermines the efforts to hold the regime accountable for its heinous crimes and challenges the principles of international law aimed at safeguarding global security.
The Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) has also emphasized that any reception of Bashar al-Assad, a known criminal, constitutes a reward for his actions against the Syrian people. It disregards the sacrifices made by Syrians over the past 12 years, forgets the victims who await justice, and abandons the Syrian population’s quest for freedom.
The SOC firmly asserts that Syria cannot be represented by the criminal Assad and deems it unacceptable for any country to recognize this regime as legitimate after it has committed hundreds of thousands of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)
