UN urges Damascus to protect minorities amid escalations
NEW YORK - The United Nations calls on Damascus to make sure that all ethnic and religious groups living in the country are equally represented, feel protected, and safe, amid ongoing tensions between the new authorities and other groups, most notably the Kurds, and the Druze community.
"Our message to the authorities in Damascus, to the government in charge in Damascus, is make sure that all people living in Syria, all Syrians, whether they be Alawites, whether they be Kurds, whether they be Sunni or Shiites, are represented, and that they feel safe and they feel protected by their government," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, told Rudaw in an interview on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday.
Syria’s interim government has come under fire, accused of sidelining minority groups. When he was appointed interim president in late January, Ahmed al-Sharaa promised an inclusive political process.
Dujjaric, however, said that Syrian interim President Sharaa and his government face "tremendous amounts of challenges."
"I mean, they took control of a country that was in deep humanitarian crisis, deep political crisis, with violence. And so it is important that the Syrian people rally around the government, but the government needs to rally around the Syrian people as well," Dujaric said.
In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration that centers on Islamic jurisprudence and grants him exclusive executive power during the country’s five-year transitional period. The interim constitution has been rejected by Syria’s Christian, Druze, Kurdish, and Alawite communities, who view it as exclusionary and the new government as too centralized.
Following a swift offensive in early December, a coalition of opposition groups led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - headed by Sharaa - toppled the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Since assuming power, the new leadership in Damascus has prioritized lobbying for the removal of international sanctions. While many countries have expressed openness to revisiting Assad-era sanctions, they have emphasized the need for the new government to meet key benchmarks.
During his interview with Rudaw's Tuncdemir, the spokesperson of the UN secretary general shed light several other topics, including the idea of the two-state solution to draw the Israel-Palestine conflict to a conclusion, as well as the severe impact of humanitarian aid cuts to war refugees and internally displaced persons.
The following is the full transcript of the interview with Stephane Dujarric:
Rudaw: Mr Stephane, thank you very much for your time today.
Stephane Dujarric: My pleasure, and it's so nice to be outside with the beautiful gardens of the UN and lots to talk about.
I have a very general first question I want to ask. As you know, there is a lot going on in the world, from Europe to Africa to Asia, Middle East. How does the Secretary General feel about all these things? Is he exhausted?
He's not exhausted. You know, one thing the Secretary General is determined, he is determined never to give up in his fight for justice, in the fight for respect for international law, the fight against impunity and the fight for the United Nations. So there is a lot on his plate, but I can tell you he is fully energized. And I think you'll hear that from him tomorrow in the remarks.
Great. My first question, actually, it's the most important thing today happening at the UN. There's a two-state solution happening, and we know like France, Saudi Arabia, and we see more countries actually joining this new accepting two-state solution. What's the Secretary General's message to all countries gathering here this year?
On the two-state solution, it is ‘Keep the hope alive.’ There is no other solution besides the two-state solution. I mean, what are the other options? There's really only one other option, and that is a one-state solution. And how can you have a one-state solution with one people being oppressed by another? It's not right. It's not just. And it's not in the self-interest of the Israeli people themselves.
I would like to go to Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan a little bit. And as you know, there are some changes happening in Iraq too. If you can just give us a little bit of an update about the UN work in general, like Iraq.
Well, the UN has been in Iraq since the US invasion, right? I mean, and even before. But in this context, really to accompany all Iraqi people within the borders of Iraq, and whether they are Shiite, Sunni, Kurds, or any other minority, to ensure that they have a country in which everyone feels represented, in which everyone feels safe, and that is on the right path to development. And we will continue to accompany the Iraqi people in that sense.
As a journalist, I receive a lot of messages these days from the refugee camps, especially in Iraqi Kurdistan. I don't know how much it's right because I don't have a chance to go check, fact check. But what I receive, what I hear is they are like, we don't receive enough help anymore from the UN. They mean they used to receive more than they receive right now.
The sad reality, Sinan, is that the UN's humanitarian work is voluntarily funded. And right now, most wealthy countries are cutting the funds. And so when there is no money, there's not enough help. When there is less money, there's less food. When there's less money, there's less health care. So this is a direct impact of the cuts in humanitarian aid that we've seen. And it's the worst impacted, obviously, the people that are meant to receive the aid. But it is requiring some horrendous choices to be made by our United Nations humanitarian colleagues about what funds and where to spend them.
As you know, Syria is a very diverse country. It's a mosaic. There are Druze, there are Christians, Muslims, Kurds, and Alawites. And, you know, there's a new transitional government. And a couple of months ago, the transitional government announced a constitution, a new constitution, but it's not a very large-scale constitution. But even in this small constitution, the one they announced, was not accepted by the minorities in Syria because they think it doesn't include them and doesn't protect their rights. And when the UN talks to Damascus, the transitional government, do they bring all this matter to the Damascus authority?
I can tell you what the strength of Syria, like many other countries, is its diversity. Diversity breeds diversity of culture. It breeds strength. Our message to the authorities in Damascus, to the government in charge in Damascus, is make sure that all people living in Syria, all Syrians, whether they be Alawites, whether they be Kurds, whether they be Sunni or Shiites, are represented, and that they feel safe and they feel protected by their government. Now, of course, the government of Mr. al-Sharaa faces a tremendous amount of challenges. I mean, they took control of a country that was in deep humanitarian crisis, deep political crisis, with violence. And so it is important that the Syrian people rally around the government, but the government needs to rally around the Syrian people as well.
And is there any specific UN commission or department doing some investigation about the massacres the Druze and Alawites faced the last couple of months?
There are a number of commissions set up by the Human Rights Council. There's also the independent, the IIIM on missing persons. All these different mechanisms are looking at different parts of what is going on in Syria, and they will report back.
And lately we see there are less clashes, especially between the Turkish government and SDF, Syrian Democratic Forces. But in the last couple of weeks, the Turkish government has been threatening the SDF again. They might start a large-scale military operation. I don't want to speculate the situation, but also what the Secretary General's stance against those threats is. Even if it starts the operation, what would be his reaction? I mean, it's better to show a reaction after it starts.
I think for the Secretary General, he wants to make sure that all parties do whatever they can to preserve calm, right? And that means less rhetoric. That means less action. I mean, there is a calm, and it needs to be preserved by all.
And as you know, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, a few months ago, their leader, Abdullah Ocalan, called on his party to lay down their guns. And the Secretary General said, this is a glimmer of hope. And it received a really big reaction, actually, in Kurdish media, Kurdish society. Can you just a little bit elaborate that for us, like what he meant?
Well, it's a glimmer of hope because it's a conflict that's been going on for decades, in which so many people have been hurt, so many people have been imprisoned, where there's been so much damage to lives and to physical infrastructure. And whenever a longstanding conflict starts to come to an end, where we see that it's possible to do something, one can only be hopeful.
And last question, what is the Secretary General's message to the Kurdish society, Kurdish struggle, I mean, the people who struggle for part of Kurdistan?
I think his message is that people need to understand that everyone is entitled to the same protection from the Charter of the United Nations, from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And that there are some people, a minority in one country and majority in another. And whether you're in the minority or majority, you need to respect each other and you need to ensure that those rights are respected.
Very quick, short follow-up, not a follow-up, last quick question. When are you planning to visit Kurdistan?
I wish very soon.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Sinan.
Thank you.