Gabby+Kopf

Name: Gabby Kopf County: Anne Arundel County

Under the leadership of Bashar Al-Assad the Syrian government has committed despicable acts of human rights violations and war crimes that simply cannot be ignored any longer. While the Syrian government claims that these crimes are the actions of terrorist organizations, it has been made clear by the United Nations Human Rights Council Independent International Commission that the Syrian government is responsible for the atrocities. Due to the proximity of Kuwait to Syria the use chemical weapons and the threat of international attacks are major concerns of the Kuwaiti Government. Kuwait has reached out to both the UN and the international community to end the violence in Syria and prevent any more chemical attacks. Kuwait along with 33 other countries have signed an official statement that condemned in the strongest terms the use of chemical weapons and explicitly supports the efforts undertaken by the United states. Post world war one at the height of imperialism Syria was sectioned off from the Ottoman Empire as a newly formed colony of the French. European ignorance to the diverse ethnic and religious landscape of the Ottoman Empire led to a potentially dangerous mix of Sunni Arabs, Alawites, Christians, and Kurds now all living within the borders of Syria. This has created an endless power struggle between the religions that has caused instability and turmoil dating back to 1963. In an unstable country that is being run by power hungry elites basic civil liberties have been completely over looked. In 2000 after Bashar Al-Assad was elected the people of Syria began to protest the corrupt and inept Syrian government, they called it “Damascus Spring”. Bashar Al-Assad countered this movement by implementing a strict government crackdown on everything from censored internet use to the authorization of his security to use “whatever means necessary” to shut down protests. In 2011 the even larger “Arab Spring” civil rights movement was gaining momentum throughout the Middle East and caused evens more protests and riots in Syria. Over 5000 Syrians were dead and counting. This brought international attention to the crimes and soon United States and EU sanctions were placed on Syria in addition to suspension of their Arab League membership. Currently the death toll exceeds 90,000 and continues to grow with the discovery of the chemical agent sarin nerve gas being used to kill civilians in mass quantities in Damascus. It is an obligation of the international community to stop these atrocities from taking place. Syrian rebels are doing what they can to combat the government with the help of funding from neighboring countries Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Even more so a problem is the chemical warfare being used can become very lethal very fast. The International community has taken the rightful haste in convincing Syria to give up their chemical weaponry. The lethal gases will be removed by the end of the year, with the entirety of the supply of chemicals being removed and destroyed by 2014. Kuwait has headed a program for the United Nations office of humanitarian affairs that has raised over 1.5 billion for Syrian refugees and will continue to raise more money for the 2.1 million people displaced at a second conference this coming January. Efforts must continue until the Al-Assad administration is removed or steps down. Now that the most serious of the issues has been properly dealt with attention has to be brought to the gradual reform of the Syrian government. United Nations member countries need to be working together to create a plan for the gradual removal of the current administration if not successfully accomplished by the Syrian people within a reasonable amount of time. Any emerging political leaders should be carefully observed by the United Nations or Arab League until stability is reached within Syria. It is important for a country to make decisions for themself but when countries decisions have continually caused turmoil and injustice for their people it’s a necessary precaution to have a watchful eye on the decisions of the new leaders. Neighboring countries like Kuwait need reassurance that Syria does not pose a threat to their own people. Ideally Syrian peaceful opposition should be working with the international communities to bring down Bashar and his administration, while simultaneously making a plan for the future government of Syria. If the UN and the international community work with the opposition it will be easy to have close observation of the new government that will be later installed. If the opposition is willing to cooperate. The actions of any one country are consistently becoming of even greater importance to the security of the world as a whole.

 