UN BOARD OF INQUIRY ON THE BOMBING OF HOSPITALS IN SYRIA IS FAILING OUR PEOPLE
By Waad al-Kateab
Attacks on Syria - my home - continued over Christmas. Civilians are being killed, families are being broken apart, homes are being destroyed. We see no end to these horrific attacks but we try everything to make them stop. We stand with our people in Syria, we raise our voices for them. We urge people to take notice of what is happening and we demand that the war criminals responsible are held accountable.
But the UN doesn’t hear us. The UN ignores us.
We’ve heard about the UN’s Board of Inquiry to investigate attacks on health care facilities in Syria. At first, we were so relieved and happy to hear that an investigation into targeted Russian and Syrian regime bombings of UN-sponsored facilities, including over 50 medical facilities in the past 9 months, would finally lead to serious accountability. But our hopes crashed when we learned that they are only looking into 7 of the attacks. Only one of these is suspected to be a Russian attack. We also feel frustrated that the final report may not be made public. This inquiry is not accurate. These results will not represent the reality of what is happening. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it has been proven by the New York Times. If there is evidence of what is going on in Syria then why are the UN ignoring this? This is not justice for us.
By keeping the results secret and by not even trying to show who is to blame for these attacks on hospitals, the UN is failing Syrians and failing its role as an international organisation. It is also totally unacceptable that Russia is trying to hide the findings of the enquiry and that the UN is weak enough to let this happen. We need all of the facts. We need to uncover and condemn the war criminals once and for all.
My heart breaks for Syria and my people but right now we have to turn our despair, anger and tears into power. We must put pressure on the UN. I demand that Secretary General António Guterres shares what the Board of Inquiry has found with the public. I demand that the UN does not give in to pressure from Russia and the Syrian Regime to discredit the investigation. I demand that the UN does not help them to escape accountability for the horrors they are committing in Syria.
Please help us take action.
Our friends at Physicians for Human Rights have launched a petition to demand the findings are made public and the perpetrators named.
You can also share my message as much as possible. Tag the UN and Secretary General António Guterres to make him take notice.
Twitter: @antonioguterres @UN
Facebook: /unitednations
Instagram: @antonioguterres @unitednations
We will not be silenced and we will not be ignored.
Waad al-Kateab
…
Read this critical article by the New York Times on the UN Board of Inquiry and what really happened in Syria.