League must take sterner stance #AssadMustBeProsecuted #ICC

League must take sterner stance

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According to Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights “more than 60 people are reported to have been killed by Syrian security forces since Syria signed the (Arab League) peace plan”. However, the UN adds that this estimate is conservative. This brings the total number of people killed since the Syrian protests started in March to 3,500.

The Arab League must take responsibility for those who died during this period and even those who were killed before the peace plan was signed because it failed to take effective action against Assad’s regime.

What will come out of this coming Saturday’s meeting is anybody’s guess but we hope that the League will not provide yet another chance to the regime to buy time because that will mean more deaths in Syria.

It is not only the Syrians, but the entire Arab nation is asking the Arab League to take a tougher stance against the Syrian government. First, they should suspend Syria’s membership of the Arab League like what it did in the case of Libya when Gaddafi launched a violent crackdown on protesters.

Second, the League should recognise the Syrian National Council as the true representative of the Syrian people as well as impose a “no-fly zone” similar to what they did to Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.

Third, they should put pressure on the international community to take immediate action and compel them to enforce economic sanctions against Syria in order to weaken the support that Syrian businessmen in Damascus and Aleppo have given to Assad’s regime. It is particularly fitting to impose sanctions on fuel and oil supplies especially since winter is coming. These economic restrictions will force businessmen rethink their loyalty to the regime and convince them to support the Syrian protests.

Fourth, with the regime increasing the suppression of human rights as seen through the high number of people killed and tortured by the government, the Arab League should bring Syria’s case to the International Criminal Court for violation of human rights.

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