Syria: UN GA Shaming Security Council into Action?

Independent Films, Politics

As Kofi Annan Resigns, the UN Security Council is once again exposed as not united and unable/unwilling to address its responsibility regarding the "threat to international peace and security" that Syria has become. The UN General assembly criticizes the Council for inaction and adopts another Resolution;

As the fighting in Syria continues unabated, the General Assembly today (3 August) adopted a resolution condemning the increasing use of heavy weapons by authorities and urging all sides to immediately cease armed violence.

The resolution, presented by the Arab Group, was adopted by a vote of 133 in favour to 12 against with 31 abstentions, and comes two weeks after the Security Council failed to agree on collective action to help stop the bloodshed.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon once again voiced his regret over the divisions that have paralyzed action in the Security Council, adding that the immediate interests of the Syrian people must be paramount over any larger rivalries of influence.

He warned that, despite repeated verbal acceptances of the six-point plan presented by the Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan, both the Government and the opposition continue to rely on weapons, not diplomacy, in the belief that they will win through violence.

The Secretary-General said "the losers in this escalating battle are the people of Syria" and added that "what is especially tragic about Syria is that this catastrophe was avoidable."

Yesterday Annan announced that he will not continue on as the Joint Special Envoy past the end of August. The Secretary-General said that while a successor is being sought to replace Annan, mediation can only succeed where there is a commitment to solving conflict through dialogue and real leverage to back it up.

Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi, presenting the draft resolution on behalf of the Arab Group, said that instead of the Syrian Government following the six-point plan, "six massacres were committed in Baba Amr, Al-Rastan, Houla, Traimsah, Foqair and today Aleppo."

Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari condemned the draft resolution as being unbalanced and interfering with Syria's internal affairs.

He said it was "a strange paradox" that the states sponsoring the draft resolution "have played the major role in the militarization of the situation in Syria" by "providing weapons to the terrorist groups in Syria."

The Permanent Representative of Venezuela, one of the countries that voted against the draft, said the resolution "lacks objectivity."

Ambassador Jorge Valero Briceño said it describes "a long list of acts in violation of human rights attributed to the Syrian Government but minimizes or hides the crimes committed against human rights by the terrorist groups and the armed opposition."

Outside the General Assembly, after the vote, Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom said "the resolution is not balanced because the situation on the ground is not balanced" and placed blame on the Syrian Government for using heavy weapons against peaceful protestors."

He added that "one cannot equate what has been happening and the violence perpetrated by the regime on the opposition, which yes, has now had to take up arms to defend itself and to defend its civilian neighbourhoods."

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago.

Tags

• syria
• Annan
• Saudi Arabia
• Venezuela
• diplomacy
• UN
• United Nations General assembly
• Jaffari
• United Security Council
• diplomatically incorrect
• Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey
• Bosnia & Herzegovina

Directors:

• Muhamed Sacirbey (UNTV)

Producers:

• Susan Sacirbey (UNTV)