HRC44: Oral statement during oral update with COI

Agenda Item 4:Oral Update with COI on Syria

Organisation:Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Claire Denman

Thank you Madame President,

CSW thanks the Commission for its update and continued work.

The human rights situation in Syria remains unchanged. Political activists and human rights defenders continue to be arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned, where they face torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

We continue to call on the Syrian government to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and without precondition, to cease the use of torture in prisons and detention centres, and to end the arbitrary arrest of dissidents.

CSW is also concerned by the ongoing conflict in parts of the country, which has claimed hundreds of lives and has displaced thousands.

We call on the Russian government in particular to use its leverage to press the Syrian authorities to engage in meaningful talks with the opposition in order to achieve a sustainable solution to the conflict.

In northern Syria, Islamist groups continue to be responsible for severe violence and loss of life. The situation was exacerbated by the Turkish military offensive of March 2020 which created a massive security, humanitarian and refugee crisis and risks the re-emergence of the Islamic State.

We call on the government of Turkey to restrain Islamist groups loyal to it in areas under Turkish control in Northeast and Northwest Syria, to respect international humanitarian law, and to ensure no further attacks on Syrian civilians occur.

Finally, we urge member and observer states to hold all those responsible for human rights abuses in Syria, including the Russian, Syrian and Turkish governments, to account.

Thank you