Only 12 States Voted Against the HRC Resolutions Condemning Violations Against the Syrian People Since March 2011, With the Overwhelming Majority of World States Voting in Support of the Rights of the Syrian People
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Press release: (Download the full report below)
The Hague – In a report published today, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) welcomed the latest report released by the COI and the most recent Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution, which confirmed that violations continue in Syria, noting that only 12 states have voted against the HRC resolutions condemning violations against the Syrian people since March 2011, with the overwhelming majority of world states voting in support of the rights of the Syrian people.
The 10-page report sheds light on the 27th report released by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI), which was published on March 13, 2023. The report, which covers the period between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, documents grave violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law across Syria. In this context, SNHR’s report includes a summary of the most notable points of the COI report, welcoming its recommendations and underlining SNHR’s support for the COI’s mandate and the investigations it has carried out since its establishment. The report also underscores SNHR’s cooperation with the COI since 2011.
Moreover, SNHR’s report welcomes the HRC resolution adopted on April 4, 2023, extending the mandate of the COI by one year.
As the report notes, the HRC resolution confirms that continue to be perpetrated in Syria. The report further states that all the findings of this resolution are in the interest of the Syrian people and state, against the perpetrators of violations against them. Despite this, however, the report reveals that five oppressive states voted in favor of the Syrian regime, namely China, Cuba, Bolivia, Eretria, and Algeria, although the majority of the member states voting, 26 states in all, voted in favor of the resolution and the Syrian people.
On a related note, the report includes a brief analysis of the states’ voting behavior on HRC resolutions on the state of human rights in Syria since March 2011. To that end, the report notes that a total of 41 resolutions were adopted by the HRC on Syria since the beginning of the popular uprising, including 14 resolutions regarding the establishment of the Fact-Finding Mission which later developed into the International Commission of Inquiry, as well as extending its mandate. The report stresses that a total of 12 states, united by shared characteristics of despotism, have consistently voted against HRC resolutions and in support of the Syrian regime since March 2011. The report adds that, in addition to this, these states are not only denying the violations committed by the regime, but through these denials are effectively encouraging the regime to commit more violations by promising to secure support for it at the HRC. The report includes a map showing the 12 states that have consistently voted against HRC resolutions condemning violations against the Syrian people between March 2011 and April 2023, namely Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Burundi, Armenia, Eretria, the Philippines, Algeria, Iraq, and Egypt, and provides a record of how many times each of those 12 states has voted. The report describes these states as “mutually supportive totalitarian states that are actively opposed to democracy and respect for international human rights law,” as well as being isolated rogue states.
As the report further confirms, the overwhelming majority of states worldwide have endorsed the HRC resolutions that support the rights of the Syrian people, and condemn the vicious violations against them. The report, in which SNHR expresses its immense gratitude to these states for showing their support for the rights of the Syrian people, also includes a map showing the states that have consistently voted in favor of HRC resolutions condemning the violations committed against the Syrian people since March 2011.
The report stresses that Russia is involved in committing violations that constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria, adding that this explains both why Russia voted, before its membership was suspended, against all HRC resolutions on Syria and why it fears the work of the COI. Meanwhile, the report stresses that most of the world’s countries refuse to support crimes against humanity and war crimes in Syria.
The report calls on all the world’s states to respect HRC resolutions and comply with them, to stand in solidarity with just causes, and to always vote in favor of HRC resolutions condemning those nations that excessively violate fundamental human rights like the Syrian regime.
The report adds that authoritarian, dictatorial states, such as China, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Algeria, must not be elected to the HRC, because their very nature means they will always vote against human rights worldwide, with their votes on Syria serving as a stark example of this.
The report also makes a number of additional recommendations.