The Vast Majority of the World’s Countries Voted for the Rights of the Syrian People, With Russia’s and China’s UNHRC Membership Strengthening the Coalition of Countries Hostile to Human Rights
Press release:
(Link below to download full report)
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reveals in a report released today that eleven countries have voted against Human Rights Council resolutions condemning violations against the Syrian people since March 2011 to date, noting that the vast majority of the world’s countries voted for the rights of the Syrian people, with Russia’s and China’s UNHRC membership strengthening the coalition of countries hostile to human rights.
The 20-page report, which was prepared following the election of both Russia and China as members of the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, beginning from its next session, stresses that their election supports the Syrian regime and its continuous violations, as well as many other dictatorships worldwide. In this context, the report exposes those countries that voted in favor of the regime committing a vast number of violations in Syria over the past nine years, showing the number of times each voted, and demonstrating in a visible way how dictatorships have rallied together with fellow totalitarian states and allies to vote in favor of each other, regardless of the blatant nature of their egregious violations of human rights.
The report also shows the countries that voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions on Syria, for which the SNHR offers its sincere thanks and appreciation, whilst in turn condemning and exposing the countries that voted for the Syrian regime, which has committed crimes against humanity, being the party responsible for committing the largest number of violations since the beginning of the popular uprising in Syria in March 2011, as the report reveals.
As the report further reveals, following the first of the Syrian regime’s grave violations in 2011, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) urgently intervened, issuing its first resolution almost six weeks after the start of the uprising for democracy, in which it clearly condemned the Syrian regime’s brutal violations and called for the creation of a fact-finding mission. The HRC has subsequently held successive meetings on Syria, issuing 34 resolutions on the human rights situation in Syria.
Fadel Abdul Ghany, Chairman of the Syrian Network for Human Rights says:
“The number of countries that have voted in favor of the Human Rights Council’s resolutions on Syria since March 2011 to date has been far greater than the number of dictatorships that have voted in favor of the Syrian regime; the same can be said of all UN General Assembly resolutions, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ resolutions. Human rights have won in all international forums because most countries care for their reputation, and it’s very difficult to vote for a criminal regime. Despite this, however, human rights have failed terribly in the UN Security Council, which has concentrated the majority of the executive powers in its own hands, and this is why we have seen a tragic failure of implementing human rights conventions and standards worldwide, especially in Syria.”
The report documents the list of countries which voted in favor of the Human Rights Council resolutions, and those which voted against the HRC’s resolutions, clearly showing their denial of the violations committed by the Syrian regime, which effectively encouraged the regime to commit more violations by promising to secure support for it in the Human Rights Council despite these. The report reveals that these are authoritarian states which support one another, making themselves isolated rogue states, noting that on average these are four or five countries against 30 that voted in favor of the HRC’s resolutions out of the 47 countries eligible to vote, with the report pointing out that all the resolutions have received an overwhelming majority of support over the past years.
The report includes a brief analysis of countries’ voting record on Human Rights Council resolutions, showing that only eleven countries voted in favor of the Syrian regime continuously for the past nine years, with all these countries being oppressive dictatorships, namely: Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Burundi, Eritrea, Philippines, Algeria, Iraq, and Egypt, with the report noting that Russia and China are spearheading a coalition of oppressive countries that are loyal to them to vote in favor of the Syrian regime. The report reveals that eight other countries voted in favor of the Human Rights Council resolutions, but voted once in favor of the Syrian regime, adding that the vast majority of the world’s countries voted in favor of the Human Rights Council resolutions, supporting the rights of the Syrian people and condemning the brutal violations against them.
The report details specifically the resolutions establishing and extending the mandate of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), outlining 11 HRC resolutions since the HRC called for the establishment of the fact-finding mission, which later became the International Commission of Inquiry, until October 2020.
The report further notes that ten countries, which we previously detailed, are the same ones that blatantly voted against the extension of the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry, meaning that these countries wish to see the Syrian regime and other parties to the conflict continue to commit violations, some of which amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, while they do not wish to see a UN commission investigating these violations and identifying and condemning the perpetrators. The report stresses that the Syrian regime hasn’t allowed the Commission of Inquiry to enter the country since its establishment and up to the present date, indicating the regime’s central involvement in the violations, and its wish to conceal them with the help of the other oppressive tyrannical states that vote in its favor.
The report adds that the rest of the world’s countries have thankfully voted in favor of the establishment and extensions of the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry during their terms as members of the Human Rights Council.
The report stresses that Russia has left no stone unturned in its defense of the Syrian regime, using its veto sixteen times in the Security Council, and providing military support, with this support for the regime also extending to the Human Rights Council and its resolutions which only address the situation of human rights. The report adds that Russia is also involved in committing violations that constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, which is why it votes against all resolutions issued by the Human Rights Council on Syria.
The report condemns the eleven countries which have voted in favor of the Syrian regime, with especial reference to Egypt as an Arab country, as well as Algeria during the era of former President Bouteflika. The report notes that Iraq, whose sovereign political, economic and human rights decisions are controlled by Iran’s regime, voted in favor of the Iranian regime’s ally, the Syrian regime, demonstrating the extent of the Iranian regime’s control over Iraq.
The report reveals that the analysis it provides proves that most of the world’s countries refuse to support crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, and if the decision to move to protect civilians was left to the Human Rights Council or the UN General Assembly, these violations would have ended since the summer of 2011; however, the executive powers is in the hands of the Security Council, which has failed abjectly and completely to protect the civilians in Syria for nine years to date.
The report provides recommendations to the countries of the world, which include noting that since the Human Rights Council is a human rights body and the decisions issued by it are closely related to basic human rights, all countries of the world must respect these decisions and comply with them. The countries of the world must also stand in solidarity with just causes, and always vote in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning those nations that excessively violate basic human rights like the Syrian regime.
The report also recommends that the countries that support the Syrian regime must be exposed, and their votes in favor of the regime at the Human Rights Council must be condemned. In addition, the report recommends that the authoritarian dictatorships, such as; Russia, China, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, and Egypt, mustn’t be elected to the Human Rights Council’s membership.