Euro-Med Monitor Supports Canada, The Netherlands’ Efforts To Hold Syrian Regime Accountable

Relevant United Nations Agencies should support the courageous legal initiatives the Netherlands and Canada announced to hold the Syrian regime accountable for its horrific violations against its citizens, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and Geo Expertise said in a joint oral statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council 46th session.

The escalation of human rights violations in the Middle East and North Africa requires the United Nations’ relevant agencies to provide more technical assistance to the region’s countries to help them meet their human rights obligations, strengthen and establish reporting and follow-up mechanisms, the two organizations said during general debate under agenda item 10.

Delivered by Euro-Med Monitor’s legal researcher, Michela Pugliese, the speech said that in addition to armed conflicts and poverty, the region suffers large-scale violations especially against women, children, and other vulnerable groups. This is because the governments have failed to deal with these violations due to several political and material factors such as lack of capabilities and specialized human cadres.

The speech stressed the need to support independent organizations working to document, detect and combat violations in the region and ensure the continuity of their important work by cooperating and forming long-term partnerships with them.

The two organizations pointed to the importance of implementing capacity-building programs for these organizations’ cadres and providing them with the necessary technical support to ensure that their work continues and that they can document violations comprehensively.

The intensification of the UN's support for combating violations efforts will have a decisive role in developing mechanisms for monitoring these violations and accelerating the pace of reducing them, the speech concluded.

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