The Syrian National Coalition denounced the shocking statements recently made by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as an attempt to whitewash the image of the “murderous regime” which committed the most heinous crimes against the Syrian people and Palestinian refugees.
“The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not only diverted aid from the deserving refugees and IDPs and dedicated it to supporting Assad’s war machine and his murderous regime which is responsible for the largest displacement operation in the world since the Second World War as well as to supporting the regime forces to commit more war crimes against the Syrian people, but has also recently made attempts to whitewash the regime,” said the Coalition in a press release issued on Thursday.
The Coalition said that “the UNHCR barefacedly thanked the Assad regime, ignoring the facts in a way that cannot be justified whatsoever, especially as half of the Syrian people have become internally displaced or refugees in neighboring countries and around the world as a result of policies and plans developed and implemented by the regime and its allies.”
The Coalition condemned these statements whitewashing the regime and extending “deep gratitude” to the regime for its “cooperation and support for refugees in Syria.”
“These remarks ignored the regime’s destruction of schools, institutes and universities as well as its killing and detaining of tens of thousands of students and teachers, including Palestinian refugees, and torturing them in its prisons. These crimes have been confirmed by independent and official bodies and committees of the UN.”
The Coalition went on: “These reprehensible remarks also contradict dozens of reports and documents submitted by committees of the UN Security Council, all of which accused the regime and its allies of involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity and the use of chemical weapons.”
“Such poisonous statements, which cannot be justified and which were made outside any reasonable context, cannot pass without being classified as part of attempts to whitewash the image of the regime.” The Coalition stressed that such statements suggest that the UN institutions are infiltrated in one way or another by elements working in favor of the regime or benefit from it directly or indirectly.
The Coalition called on the UN to order the UNHCR to retract its statements and not to make any statements that contradict the UN’s official positions or that condone the Assad regime’s crimes. (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
