July 14,2021
statement of condemnation
On July 12, 2021, the United Nations Development Program in Syria (UNDP Syria) announced via Facebook the opening of applications for Syrian university students interested in organizing an annual innovation competition, the Hult Prize, on their university campus. In the post, UNDP Syria states the competition will be held on Syrian university campuses in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and the National Union of Syrian Students.
The Day After, a Syrian-led civil society organization dedicated to transitional justice and democracy in Syria, condemns the cooperation of UNDP Syria with the National Union of Syrian Students (NUSS). The NUSS has been accused of cooperating with the Syrian security services and facilitating the arrest, torture, enforced disappearance, and expulsion of Syrian students who opposed the Syrian regime and/or participated in the peaceful protests that began in 2011.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), the NUSS contributed to the arrest of university students while they were inside their universities and handed them over to Syrian security services, which practiced the worst forms of torture against them. The NUSS, called the “largest security and espionage agency in universities and educational bodies in Syria,” has also recruited Syrian university students to act as informants to collect and provide information to the regime on students suspected of disloyalty to the Assad regime.
The Day After strongly denounces the decision of UNDP Syria to partner with the National Union of Syrian Students, an organization credibly accused of facilitating crimes against humanity, in any capacity. We call on UNDP Syria to immediately and indefinitely stop all forms of coordination and cooperation with the National Union of Syrian Students.
