February 20, 2012

Reuters has reported that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is negotiating with all parties in Syria to allow them to bring aid to the most affected areas in Syria.

As the whole world now knows, one of the most affected areas is Baba Amro in Homs, subject to shelling and destruction on a daily basis. However, upon contacting our Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) colleagues in Baba Amro, we were informed that the no one from the ICRC had contacted them or representatives of the Free Syrian in order to bring aid to them. The ICRC’s statement (see:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/20/us-syria-redcross-
idUSTRE81J10K20120220) indicates that there is a war in Syria between two armies which are equal in strength fighting each other, and this is completely removed from the reality of Syria and only works in favor of the Syrian regime.

There are dozens if not hundreds of tanks and heavy artillery, as well as thousands of soldiers from the Syrian regime’s army equipped with weapons surrounding civilians and shelling the people of Baba Amro for over 18 days continuously. On the other hand, there is a Free Syrian Army with only dozens of defected soldiers, hiding inside the Baba Amro district to protect women from being raped, men and children from being killed, and homes from being looted by the Syrian regime’s security forces. For this reason, we respectfully request the ICRC to use terms which reflect the reality of the situation in Syria. This is not a situation of a two sides fighting a war; rather, it is a situation of one side being attacked on a daily basis.

This is not the first time which the ICRC has misrepresented the reality, for on 14 February, 2012, they stated that they had spoken with Syrian authorities and were assured that assistance would reach Baba Amro, Al-Inshaat, Al-Khalidiye and Ar-Rifa’ee. Upon verifying this information with our SNHR colleagues in these districts, they assured us nothing had been received by the residents. Dr. Muhammad AlMuhammad, a doctor in these districts, verified that no type of assistance had reached them.

We would like to state that these shipments of aid may exist, but we do not know where they are going. SNHR knows with full authority and verification that the aid is not reaching the besieged areas. The statement that the Syrian authorities are cooperating with the ICRC simply does not reflect reality and even the SNHR and other coordinating bodies’ efforts to get aid into Syria have been met with nothing but outright resistance. The SNHR has repeatedly asked Syrian authorities that all women and children be allowed to evacuate the besieged areas, and the regime has rejected any such requests. A medical team assembled by SNHR was denied entrance into Syria and when SNHR attempted to at least send medication to the besieged areas, this request was denied by Syrian authorities as well.

We ask that all major relief agencies come forward and share their experience of being repeatedly rejected from providing aid to the besieged towns of Syria. This will verify the honesty of our report and pave the way for all of us, to ask together to physically enter Syria and Homs to at least provide the basic humanitarian aid to the innocent civilians subject to this brutal regime. Any organizations wishing to join us in this call to help the civilians can contact us via Skype using the screen name Syrianhr.

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الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان - لندن

Syrian Network for Human Rights - London

Website: www.syrianhr.org

Email: mail@syrianhr.org

Skype: Syrianhr