Genocide and Mass Atrocities Emergency – Syria
posted by Administrator
on Sun, 06/17/2012 - 10:37am
On June 8, Genocide Watch released a statement about the on-going violence in Syria:
The evidence is now conclusive that the al-Assad regime is committing intentional crimes against humanity. Among the crimes the al-Assad regime is committing are: indiscriminant, widespread attacks on civilians, arbitrary detention of thousands in the political opposition, rape of detainees, widespread torture- including torture and murder of children- and denial of food, medicines and other essential resources to civilians. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan warns that Syria stands on the brink of a “full-blown civil war”. The early warning signs and stages of genocide in Syria are:
- Prior unpunished genocidal massacres perpetrated by Assad’s father in Hama in the 1980’s;
- Rule by a minority sect – the Alawite sect that supports Assad – with an exclusionary ideology;
- Systematic human rights violations;
- Fear by the ruling elite that any compromise will mean total loss of their power;
- Deliberate targeting of particular groups -- Sunni Muslims and army defectors;
- Denial by the Syrian government of committing crimes against humanity, blaming “foreign-inspired terrorist gangs” for the armed conflict.