16 January 2020 – As civilians in Idlib continue to be attacked by Russian and Syrian forces, The Day After – along with 26 other civil society organizations – has signed the following statement (view PDF in English and Arabic):
“Brutal attacks continue, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and homes. They are happening in tandem with threats of military invasion, the fear of which has stampeded more than sixty thousand civilians (most of them already violently displaced more than once by the Syrian government).
This Russian-backed blitz comes despite many ceasefires and de-escalation agreements – including the Sochi Agreement, which was worded so as not to provide any mechanism to prevent such humanitarian catastrophes from taking place.
This military onslaught has targeted civilian areas where there are no armed groups or military installations: homes, public streets and squares, markets, schools, bakeries, mosques, and medical centres, especially in southern Idlib, including Ma’arrat An Nu’man. Those fleeing this vengeful violence are noncombatants, who have lost absolutely everything. These targeted airstrikes raze private homes and other civilian infrastructures, in order to prevent displaced Syrian families from returning to their dwellings or communities.
Traumatised and now destitute families face enforced displacement yet again. Women, children, and the elderly are bearing the brunt of this Assad regime and Putin-led war of annihilation.
The suddenly forced displacement of tens of thousands of IDPs can cause strain on host communities – themselves lacking in resources and the financial ability to support their own basic needs. Because of widespread bombing and the targeting of internally-displaced persons’ camps, like the strike on Qah camp, desperate families are unable to find safe shelter anywhere.
The targeting of civilians, the forced emptying of cities by airstrikes and shelling, the destruction of homes and other private property are all grievous violations of international law. In particular, they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians, which prohibits the collective or individual forcible transfer of people from their areas of residence.
These horrific violations of international law need an immediate and united response from International community and those of conscience in the world, to:
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- Stop the deliberate targeting and the forced displacement of civilians. After all, the technology is available to recognize the noncombatant status of families, with the imperative to cease from targeting them.
- Call upon all parties and states/ governments involved in the Syrian conflict, especially Russia, Turkey and Iran as guarantors of the de-escalation agreement, to commit to protecting the lives of civilians across northern Syria.
- Agitate to make the UN Security Council responsible in monitoring adherence to international humanitarian and human rights laws and to hold perpetrators accountable for war crime violations – even if member states complicit in this massacre have seats in the UNSC.
- Insure immediate protection to displaced civilians and provide immediate shelter, medical and food resources.”
