NGOS ask UN-General-Secretary to call for UN-Security Council on Syria

His Excellency Mr Ban Ki Moon
United Nations Secretary General
UN Headquarters First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017 USA

Your Excellency Ban Ki Moon

The undersigned NGOs in consultative status with ECOSOC wish to draw your attention to the following threats to international security and peace.

1. The increased declarations by the USA and its allies in the West as well as Turkey and some Gulf States that threaten the use of force against Syria are violations of the Charter of the United Nations.

2. This military intervention is being taken under the pretext to punish the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad claiming he used chemical weapons against his people. This claim was made without providing any reliable evidence and before the report of the UN weapons inspectors has been published. Such a claim amount to war propaganda, which is prohibited by international law.

3. The decision to intervene military without a resolution of the UN Security Council, which has the primary responsibility for international security and peace, is a threat to use force against the sovereign State of Syria and a serious violation of international law, especially article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations. Syria is a founding member of the United Nations United and one that has never used force against another State including declaring the war on Syria.

4. Syria has called on the UN and on you personally for several months to send a Commission of Inquiry into the use of chemical weapons in Khan Al-A’ssal close to Aleppo city where dozens of civilians were killed.

5. Syria cooperated with the Weapons Inspectors sent by the UN to Damascus between 20-29 August 2013 who went to Ghouta area where the claimed chemical weapons were used. The Commission of Inquiry into the use of chemical weapons was requested to visit other areas, but did not do so.According to many witnesses and other evidence the recruiting, arming and financing of armed groups using force against the people of Syria is continuing to be carried out by Western and regional countries. These armed groups are the ones that most probably used chemical weapons against Syrian civilians and the regular Syrian Army in Khan Al-A’ssal. This view has been supported by Carla Del Ponte, a member of the Commission of Inquiry of the UN Human Rights Council, responsible for investigating the situation of human rights in Syria, declared last April that the armed opposition is the one who used the chemical weapons and not the Syrian Army.

7. The US threat of a military attack against Syria is being made under the pretext that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons against its people, without any reliable evidence and appears to be a false claim fabricated by the countries seeking to overthrow the lawful government of Syria.

8. The threats to use force by the US and its European and regional allies are violations of the Charter of the United Nations and UN General Assembly resolution 26/25 of 1970 on combating terrorism that stresses the friendly relations among States and prohibits the arming of and the protecting of armed groups or terrorists as well as the conduct of military operations by one country against another.

9. Article 2, paragraph 4, of the Charter of the United Nations states unambiguously that all UN Members States shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. The threats by the US and its allies violate this fundamental provision of the Charter.

10. We appreciate your declaration on maintaining the United Nations' objects, purposes, and principles. This will contribute to international cooperation and dialogue aimed at resolving international disputes.
11. We also appreciate your efforts to convene a Geneva II Conference on Syria aimed at finding a political solution based on dialogue and respect for Syria's sovereignty.

12. The declarations of President Obama, the British Prime Minister Cameroon and French President Hollande calling for the use of force against Syria constitute threats by the countries they men represent to violate the Charter of the United Nations.

13. The population of the region already suffer from Israel's occupation of Palestine and other Arab land and from the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. A military attack on Syria will merely inflame region and threaten its very the security and stability.

14. Today, the region—more than any other time in recent history—needs peace and respect for the right of self-determination of its people without foreign interference and which violates the right of self-determination under international law.

Mindful of these threats to international peace and security, and, of your responsibilities as the United Nations' Secretary-General, we urge you, in accordance with article 99 of the Charter of the United Nations to bring to the attention of the UN Security Council of the threat to the international security and peace posed by the United State as and its allies threats to use force against Syria.
An aggressive attack against Syria through the mobilization of the media, the financing and arming terrorists groups to destroy private and public institutions in Syria, the imposing of economic and financial sanctions on the Syrian people, is not justified and violate the Charter.
The majority of the Syrian people support their President, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad, who is a symbol of national sovereignty, and the National Syrian Army, that is a symbol of a united Syria with all its diversity.
We the undersigned NGOs we take this opportunity to express to you Excellency our respect and appreciation.

UNION DES JOURISTES ARABES International Institute for peace, justice and Human Rights General Arab Women Federation

UNION DES JOURISTES ARABES International Institute for peace, justice and Human Rights General Arab Women Federation