Syrian National Council member: We are electing our leadership in İstanbul

Syrian National Council member: We are electing our leadership in İstanbul

clip from article: What does international protection exactly mean?

This is the one-million dollar question. The Human Rights Council [UNHRC] in Geneva already has two strong resolutions, one back in April and the other one back in August. They sent a commission of inquiry to Syria and of course the Syrian regime did not allow the commission [members] to get in. The commission said in its report that what happens in Syria must be investigated by the International Criminal Court [ICC]. This is why the UN Human Rights Council had two resolutions. The response by the Assad regime was not encouraging. This is why we believe that the UN Security Council should act and take a tougher stance against Syria. Unfortunately, the Security Council failed after the veto of Russia and China. What we want actually from the UNSC is to adopt a resolution to put sanctions on Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian security officers for opening fire on protesters, and there needs to be an investigation into the Syrian regime at the ICC – but since Syria is not a signatory to the Rome Statute [which is the founding international treaty of the ICC], they cannot open an investigation into the Syrian regime. So the only way to do something against the Syrian regime is to refer it to the UNSC. But after the deadlock at the UNSC due to the Russian and Chinese veto, it is the responsibility of the Turkish government as a regional power to reach other Security Council members like Brazil and South Africa. This is the only way to stop the killing machines of the Assad regime. [ read more at link]