I will have the privilege of spending today, Tuesday, March 15, with members of the Syrian community in Manchester, UK. We will be celebrating the talent and creativity of Syrian artists in the UK and Syria’s fantastically rich culture and heritage, so overshadowed in the last decade by the war and the refugee crisis. But our minds will also be on those events 11 years ago, when Syrians took to the streets to peacefully protest the incarceration and torture of fifteen young students exercising their right to speak their minds in the democratic spirit of those far off days.
Today the world looks on appalled at the cruelty and devastation of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and the exodus of almost as many refugees in one week as entered Europe in the whole of 2015. But as it does so, the sieges of cities and the cruel bombing of hospitals in Ukraine mirror what happened in Syria and bring Syria’s ordeal into horrified focus.
We have rightly acted swiftly to stand up to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. As the UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said last week “how we respond today will set the pattern for this new era. If we let Putin’s expansionism go unchallenged, it would send a dangerous message to would-be aggressors and authoritarians around the world, and we simply can’t allow that to happen.” This means reinforcing our unity, seeking to rally those 141 countries that voted to condemn Russia’s actions at the UN to further decisive measures. And it means being in for the long haul, as the Foreign Secretary put it, “strengthening our response, replacing doubt with determination, and complacency with conviction”.
And these same principles – protecting our fundamental values, standing up to aggression, working to stay unified, and staying committed for the long term – must also remain the hallmarks of our approach to Syria.
This week the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria will present its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council. It will alert the world – again – to the grave violations of fundamental human rights and humanitarian law across the country; the deliberate concealment of the fate and whereabouts of detainees; and the continuation of gender-based violence and discrimination. We know there is no military solution to bringing these horrors to an end.
Last week the UK was glad to conclude a memorandum with the UN Impartial Independent and International Mechanism (IIIM) in Geneva to mutually share information that can help bring to account the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and terrorism. We welcomed the important ruling this January by the Koblenz Court in Germany against a former Syrian intelligence officer who was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The UK is proud to support the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and the important role they played throughout the Koblenz case. We must – and will – step up our international efforts at accountability. This is based on the amazing courage and skill of the many Syrians working tirelessly to gather and protect crucial evidence, including many supported for many years by the UK.
We agreed to maintain our determination to ensure accountability in Washington this month when the US hosted representatives of the Arab League, the European Union, and eleven partner states. We also agreed we remain fully united in trying to advance a comprehensive and inclusive political solution according to UNSCR 2254, and the need for concrete outcomes from the seventh round of the upcoming March session of Constitutional Committee. Syria’s neighbors urgently need the awful situation in Syria to improve: they suffer more every day from an ever-declining economy, a growing drug trafficking industry, and the huge ongoing responsibility of looking after the almost six million refugees because Syria remains unsafe for returns.
That is why we welcome all credible initiatives to break the deadlock in helping Syrians move forward a peaceful political process. UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen’s recent consultations on seeking to identify common ground where progress is possible have been very welcome. We fervently hope that the regime and its backers will show some signs of good faith in engaging with this process. But we have to acknowledge that the signs are not encouraging.
In its unreserved support to Russia’s egregious actions the regime has once again showed its true colors. This is not a regime that can be trusted to respect agreements, make compromises or care about its people or its neighbors. We are ready to respond to any real indications that the regime is willing to change its behavior; but this is no time to fragment our collective approach to the regime, or to extend the hand of cooperation without being sure to get something back for the people of Syria and the region.
Until the regime and its Russian and Iranian supporters choose to put the Syrian people first, cease their war against them and decide to rejoin the community of open societies and economies, Syrians and their neighbors will continue to suffer.
The UK will continue to support the 13 million people in Syria who need humanitarian aid, and those outside Syria being hosted by its neighbors. We will fight tooth and nail to make sure that aid can be delivered where and when it is needed, whether across borders or across conflict lines. And we will do all we can to make sure that international aid serves Syrians with dignity, supporting their own initiatives, investments and hopes for the future.
So today, as we celebrate Syria’s deep and proud culture and recall the appalling attacks on its people of the last 11 years, we will re-commit to standing up against aggression, and to reinforcing our united and principled international strength. We stand with the Syrian people – just as we do with the people of Ukraine.
