Syria Alert: Seeking ways out of violence - recommendations from Pax Christi
Since the UN Security council vote on a resolution in support of the Arab League initiative for Syria violence has increased. The Syrian government interpreted the Russian and Chinese veto as a carte blanche to repress the uprising with violence. Since then, hundreds of civilians have been killed on top of the thousands of earlier killings.
In this Syria Alert policy brief, the Dutch peace movement IKV Pax Christi recommends a focus on protecting civilians in Syria and on de-escalating the violence on the ground and in the region. The international community should specifically:
1. Provide technical, financial and moral support to the nonviolent forces that promote a democratic Syria for all its citizens;
2. Seek political engagement of all relevant actors, including China and Russia, in pressuring Damascus to allow entry to UN human rights observers and in promoting a political way out of the crisis
3. Assess all possible non-military instruments to protect Syrian civilians and not exclude the option to pragmatically use military instruments to protect civilians.
Full report can be found here: www.paxchristi.org.uk/security_disarmament1.php