The Syrian Negotiations Commission’s Geneva Office and the Committee of Detainees held an event under the title ‘Caesar’s Act and its impact on the issue of detainees’ with the auspices of the European Union and the US Mission to the UN Office in Geneva. The event brought together a large number of diplomats and international rights activists.
The event involved the delivery of speeches, research papers, and testimonies by envoys of the European Union and the US Mission, Ambassador Abdel Latif Dabbagh, Alice Moufarrej, lawyer Yasser Al-Farhan and Hind Qabwat as well as testimonies of Maryam Hallaq and Walid Dabbak of the Caesar League.
At the end of the event, the Syrian side put forward a set of recommendations that included activating Article 301 of the Caesar Act to protect Syrian civilians; ensure the release of detainees; disclose the fate of the missing persons, initiate procedures to redress the victims, and prevent impunity.
They stressed the need of investing the act to support a real political transition; expedite the issuance of the internal regulations for the Caesar Act; and ensure that the these regulations correspond with the text of the law so that its goals are achieved as soon as possible.
The recommendations stressed the need for the sanctions to be focused on the Assad regime and its symbols as well as to be smart so as to avoid any negative effects on the lives of the Syrian people.
The Syrian side urged friendly states to adopt laws similar to the Caesar Act in order to protect civilians in Syria as well as to work on holding an international conference on detainees in the presence of the Syrians. They stressed for the need for the outcome of this conference to be binding.
Participants in the event also called for the need for the return of the issue of detainees to the negotiating table in Geneva under the umbrella of the United Nations in implementation of international resolutions. (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
