AJC Calls on UN Security Council to Act on Syria

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Aug 01, 2011, 07:27 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC called on the UN Security Council, which is meeting today, to act urgently in the face of mass murder and repression by the Syrian government against protesters.

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"Until now, the UN Security Council has remained deafeningly silent about Syria," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "The stumbling block has been the opposition of several key members unwilling to adopt a resolution critical of the Assad regime. This is beyond shameful. People are being killed in ever larger numbers, and many more have been arrested and not heard from since."

"The U.S., Britain, France and Germany have been among those UN Security Council members eager to press for a resolution," added Harris, "but others, led by Russia and China, have reportedly opposed any such move. It is high time to go forward with a draft resolution that explicitly condemns the use of violence, the many fatalities, and the other harsh measures employed by President Assad to hold on to power. Let the world see, country by country, who on the Security Council condemns what's going on -- and who countenances it. That vote will be telling. It will end the inexcusably long period of silence on Syria in the face of months of human rights violations that have revealed for all to see -- at least for those who care to look -- the brutal nature of the Syrian regime. And it will tell the brave Syrians risking their lives every day that their actions are neither ignored nor in vain."