Topic Guide for DISEC

AXMUN III Background Notes DISEC

Contents of background

Notes:

                Introduction

                Historical background

                Current Situation

                Key block positions on Syria

                Humanitarian crisis in Syria

                Responsibility to protect

                Bibliography

Committee: Disarmament & Security

Topic: Genocide attacks in the Syrian realm

Student Officers: Siddharth & Naina

 

Introduction:

                   

Since the beginning of March 2011, the stability of the Syrian Arab Republic has degenerated at an alarming rate. The conflict raging in Syria is perhaps one of the most hostile and prolonged episodes of the Arab Spring. While some look upon the violence as an increasingly savage and bitter civil war others have scathingly termed it as brutal genocide. A recent UN study revealed that Syria has been the site of “a total of 59648 unique recordings of killings between March 2011 and November 2012,” .The main combatants in the civil war are rebel forces, which began fighting as a means to oust the current regime, and the government, led by Bashar al-Assad. The General Assembly of the United Nations and the Security Council have passed resolutions condemning the violence in Syria. However, these resolutions have had little impact on the fighting and has practically failed to mitigate much of the sufferings of the people.

The crisis has mushroomed into a regional crisis with severe implications for global peace and security. Regional powers are supplying weapons and other support to both sides, with Iran notably backing the Assad regime and the Gulf States providing arms to the opposition. Sectarian violence related to the conflict has been seen in Lebanon & Iraq and millions of refugees have fled into neighbouring countries. Appeals for international aid have increased as the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in September 2013 estimated that over 2 million Syrians have been rendered refugees, up from 230000 just one year before. On August 21, 2013, the crisis took on a dangerous new dimension with a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime that killed over 1400 people according to a U.S. intelligence report. The debate over how to respond to the attacks has deeply divided the international community and continued to play out as the United States of America appears ready to carry out limited missile attacks and also the countries like Turkey and Iran have become key players as the conflict has expanded beyond the territorial boundaries.

Historical background:

Syria was established as a state after World WAR 1 when France and the Great Britain divided up the southern sections of the Ottoman Empire to benefit their imperial goals. The Europe drawn political boundaries in the Middle East did not recognize the locations of various ethnic or religious groups. The new French Mandate (colony) Syria included Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Alawites and the Christians.

In 1971 Hafez al-Assad took power, beginning authoritarian rule of a supposed republic. During this rule, the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist Muslim group led an insurgency against the government which he suppressed violently, killing between 10000and 25000 people including civilians. This event was called the Hama Massacre because it occurred in the city of Hama.

Shortly after Bashar al-Assad’s election in 2000, there was a brief ”Damascus Spring” in which Syrians were encouraged to discuss and debate political and social issues in private residences called salons but this movement was suppressed in September 2001 including the arrests of activists.

Current Situation:

Syria had experienced high unemployment, corruption and political repression due to the break down in March, 2011 in Daara. One of the main demands of the Syrian protestors was the release of political prisoners. The military response caused the peaceful protests into violent riots which lasted for days on end, due to which, global leaders had called for al-Assad to follow the leads of Hosni and end the state of emergency.

Al-Assad promised to listen to his people, and ended the state of emergency. However, four days later the Syrian regime sent thousands of troops into Daara for a wide-scale crackdown. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported Syria to the UN Security Council over its alleged convert nuclear reactor programme.

The Syrian government continued to arrest thousands of protestors and has killed over 5000 civillians. Multiple crimes against humanity have been reported, including illegal detainment of protestors.

Key block positions on Syria:

The United States and many other Western nations have increased sanctions on Syria, in an attempt to put pressure on al-Assad’s regime. However, the Security Council has not been persuaded to do the same as China & Russia had, by August, 2012.

Turkey was directly attacked by the Syrian government in June, 2012, after a Turkish fighter plane that was flying through the Syrian airspace was shot down dead with zero warning by the Syrian authorities. Due to this Turkey return fired on the Syrian by capturing the plane which was allegedly carrying weapons from Russia to Syria.

Arab league led a failed attempt to monitor the conflict in Syria. Saudi Arabia & Qatar in their pro Sunni strategy are leading efforts to isolate the Syrian government and to fund the Syrian rebel army.

Humanitarian Crisis in Syria:

·      Violations of the right to life;

·      Violations of the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of expression;

·      Arbitrary detention and violations of the right to a fair trial;

·      Torture of minors and women;

·      Violation of child rights;

·      Violations of the right to freedom of movement;

·      Violations of economic and social rights;

·      Food and water shortages;

·      Agricultural sector;

·      Refugees.

Responsibility to protect:

The Responsibility to Protect is an important, but recent UN principle enacted by the heads of governments at the 2005 World Summit. R2P implies that governments should protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. When governments cannot or will not meet their R2P obligations, the international community can use military force to protect that government’s population and potentially overthrow offending regimes, as witnessed recently in both the Ivory Coast & Libya.

Bibliography:

1.       “ Syria’s ruling Alawite sect “, New York Times, Robert Mackay, 14 July 2011

2.    “Syria’s guilty men”, Human Rights Watch

3.    “turkey turns on Syria’s Assad”, World Politics Review

4.   www.un.org/story/Syria.