Saving Syria - R2P
In a cruel mockery of the rights and lives of the Syrian people, who are under escalating assault by President Bashar Assad’s murderous regime, Russia and China vetoed United Nations Security Council efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria. In a particularly mocking defiance, the vote was held on the same day that Syrian forces killed 200 people in Homs – referred to as “the capital of the Syrian revolution.” It was the highest death toll reported for a single day since the uprising began almost a year ago. Indeed, some five days after the “license to kill” veto, some 300 more have been killed through intense and incessant tank, mortar and artillery fire targeting civilian neighborhoods in Homs.
The total death toll now stands at more than 7,000 persons murdered – including now also by rocket attacks – and the grotesque gunning down of people at funerals for those gunned down the day before. Witnesses also tell of the wanton killing and torture of children, detainees and even hospital residents – and the reported cutting of electrical supply to hospitals in Homs, resulting in the deaths of the newly-born – in short, the slaughter of innocents.
Arab League proposals to halt the killing, sanctions to deter it, and a monitoring mission to prevent it were only met with more murder and more violence. And so, the Arab League – in concert with the US and the European Union – underpinned by anguished appeals from the Syrians themselves, turned to the UN Security Council in the hope that it would finally mobilize to save Syrian lives.
Simply put, it is as shocking as it is shameful that the Security Council has yet to adopt a resolution of condemnation, let alone invoke R2P. Indeed, even the vetoed UN resolution was itself a watered-down compromise to appease the Russians and Chinese. It did not call for a condemnation of Syria’s murderous action, let alone protective action to prevent it – or sanctions to deter it – though these are threshold requirements.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?ID=257417&R=R1&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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