Colombia called on the international community on Sunday to take legal action against human rights violations in Syria where an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has killed at least 100,000 since March 2011.
In a press statement, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry expressed “its deep concerns about the situation in the Arab republic of Syria and condemns in the most energetic form the death of innocent civilians.”
The Colombian government expressed no explicit support for the US which is waiting for its Congress to approve a military intervention following the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government in an attack on anti-government rebels in suburbs of the capital Damascus.
Instead, Colombia called on warring parties to “start a dialogue that allows an end to be made to the violence and the abuse of human rights and international humanitarian law.”
The foreign minister said to “support the efforts of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and his special delegate to promote the necessary dialogue that can make an end to the atrocities lived by the Syrian population as a result of the armed confrontations that have taken more than two years already.”
At the same time, Colombia called on the UN to “take the necessary action” in response to a pending report on the use of chemical weapons in Syria currently carried out by a UN verification mission.
According to US Secretary of State John Kerry, the American government has evidence to prove that state forces loyal to Assad used chemical weapons in an August 21 attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians.
The White House plans to ask Congress to approve military intervention in Syria on its return from summer holiday on September 9.
The conflict in Syria was sparked by the 2011 Arab Spring during which the people of a number of countries in the Middle East and northern Africa ousted authoritarian regimes. The Assad family has been ruling Syria for 40 years.
Sources
- Comunicado del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores sobre la situación en la República Árabe Siria (Colombia’s Foreign Ministry)
- Syria minister: US strike on Syria ‘would benefit al-Qaeda’ (BBC)
- UN chemical weapons inspectors asked to speed up Syria investigation (The Guardian)
