Photo By: EURACTIV
Brussels/London/Paris, 13 March – European tax-payers’ money must not go to Syria’s government for reconstruction until an inclusive, durable transition is underway, an international coalition of more than 80 civil society organisations has said today, ahead of the revolution’s sixth anniversary on 15 March.
The call comes ahead of a major conference to be held in Brussels on 4 and 5 April, at which European funding for the reconstruction will be discussed. The coalition called on European leaders to insist that not a single penny or cent for reconstruction will reach the Syrian government until:
• An inclusive political transition with credible guarantees is underway;
• the Assad government and its allies have ended all attacks on civilians and respects a ceasefire with the moderate opposition;
• there is an end to the sieges, with full and unhindered humanitarian access and passage for civilians;
• independent monitors are allowed unhindered access to places of detention;
• humanitarian and civil society organisations are effectively decriminalised and their necessary contribution to the future of Syria recognised.
“Without the credible promise of democracy, and an end to attacks on civilians, siege-warfare, torture and the criminalisation of civil society and humanitarian actors, there can be no transition worth the name in Syria,” said Dimitris Christopoulos, President of the FIDH, a partner to the coalition. “If European leaders neglect these conditions, they will be bankrolling continued war crimes and instability.”
