A letter submitted by a group of Syrian legal practitioners in France, to the inviting party and organizing bodies of the donor’s conference scheduled to be held in Brussels on the 16^th of March 2023, with the aim of helping the victims of the earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on the 6^th of February 2023.

Anwar Bounni 6 March، 20236 March، 2023

Ladies and gentlemen, participants of the donor conference in Brussels,

First, we would like to express our deep gratitude for your noble humanitarian endeavors to support the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck our region on the 6^th of February 2023.

We would like to drive your attention to the fact that acknowledging the existence of the Syrian Red Crescent Organization by inviting them to represent Syrians in this conference, is a great mistake against all Syrians, those who are directly or indirectly affected by the earthquake.

It is a huge mistake against donors, and a huge mistake against humanity and that is for the following reasons. The Syrian Red Crescent Organization, like all Syrian NGOs under the Syrian regime held-areas, is affiliated with the Assad regime and it work under the guidance of its high ranking officials who have been accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against Syrians, and whom arrest warrants have been issued against in some Europeans countries like Germany and France. This means, that we as Syrians, do not trust that humanitarian aid will not find its way to those affected.

We know that humanitarian aid has been stolen and went to those who do not deserve it from the regime’s loyalists, without issuing any transparent lists to the current situation of those who received the humanitarian aid and to those residing inside regime-held areas. We know that money of donations will go to the regime’s war machine, and is used exclusively to kill Syrians, destroy their cities and to displace them, proven by reports from journalistic reports and investigations.

Your noble efforts and generous support are thus shifting from helping victims to helping a criminal regime that has been committing what amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity against its people for over a decade.

The affiliation of the Syrian Red Crescent with the regime is a matter much known to all Syrians, and corroborated by multiple witness testimonies from inside Syria. It is also known by prestigious international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International which have issued reports clarifying the Syrian Red Crescent’s relationship with the regime, accusing the Syrian red crescent of involvement in violations against the Syrian people.

On 2018, Amnesty International report mentioned that: “The Syrian Arab Red Crescent colluded with the Syrian authorities in facilitating their access to areas controlled by armed opposition groups“

A 2019 Human Rights Watch report mentioned that: “the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was complicit in government crackdowns and used to transport security forces and detainees” (Please see the attached links)

Considering that most of the earthquake-hit areas in north-west Syria are outside the control of Syrian regime control, and following the Canadian experience, we suggest that you adopt the Syrian Civil Defense Organization “White Helmets” as the representative of the Syrian people at this donor conference, and we highly advise that you find a mechanism for distributing humanitarian aid under an international observation and supervision with complete independence from the Syrian regime.

We truly hope that you will respond positively to our appeal and we hope that you will be capable of helping those directly affected by the earthquake,

Please do not contribute in supporting the killing machine that kills and steals from Syrians.

We trust that history will never forget your standing in this humanitarian catastrophe.

Please accept our sincere appreciation and gratitude.

Signatories:

Syrian Center for legal studies and research
Democratic Republic Studies Center
Swedish Syrian Association
Syrians Without Borders Association
Sada Watan Association
Abbas MOUSA
Abdulal AL JASM
Abdulhanan KILO
Abdul-Karim Al-Thalji
Ahmad Haj Bakour
Alaa ABOUD
Alaa Hamidi
ALHUSINI ABDALRAZAK
Ali HAMDAN
Almoutassim AL KILANI
Amjad Al-Masalmeh
Ayham SABRA
Bassam Stott
Bechr HAWI
Firas Abdeen
Firas HAJ YEHIA
George CHALHOUB
Hussein Al-Hamada
Lama ALLABWANI
Mazen SALAH
Mohamad Ali IBRAHIM BACHA
Mohamad KALIL
Mohammad ABO SOEFAN
Mousa HAIS
Muhammed Al-Khalifa
Muhammed Dabbous
Nader JABALI
Nasreen Al-Rish
Rasha ALSHAMI
Samer TLASS
Sawsan ALHALABI
Suleiman ISMAIL
Taher HIJAZI
Tariq Hamad
Yousf HORAN
Zaid AL AZEM
Zuhaier MARDINI