Islam Times - Damascus: Brussels Conference doesn’t help Syrians, cannot restore their rights

Damascus: Brussels Conference doesn’t help Syrians, cannot restore their rights

Islam Times - Damascus says the so-called Brussels Conference on Syria does not help Syrians and cannot restore their rights as it is not in line with the principles of the United Nations regulating humanitarian action and it is held without participation of the Syrian Arab Republic itself.

In a statement, carried by Syria’s official news agency SANA, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates made the comments on Monday as the sixth “Brussels Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region” is held on May 9-10.

The organizers of the so-called conference claim that it is aimed at reasserting the international community’s commitment toward Syrians and their host communities in neighboring countries and toward a negotiated political solution to the conflict.

The claim, however, is strongly refuted by Damascus, which says these conferences in their current form are held without participation of Syria itself, as the main country concerned, and that they do not agree with the principles of the UN regulating humanitarian action.

The foreign ministry added that organizing countries of such conferences and those participating in them clearly contradict their own declared goal of these conferences as those same countries are also imposing economic blockades and unilateral coercive measures on the Syrian people in an inhuman manner, which has affected even the ability to secure their basic requirements such as fuel, food and medicine.

“It is no longer a secret to anyone the extent to which the organizing countries of the conference are politicizing the issue of providing humanitarian aid and linking it to political preconditions that have nothing to do with the requirements and objectives of humanitarian act, including obstructing the reconstruction process, implementing steadfastness and early recovery projects, obstructing the return of refugees and insisting not to support them inside Syria after their return to it,” the statement added.

The ministry said the Brussels VI is so politicized that it did not invite Russia or other countries with a balanced stance to take part in the conference for purely political reasons that have nothing to do with the situation in Syria.

Before the commencement of foreign-supported militancy and terrorism in Syria, the Arab country was a self-sufficient state with high levels of economic growth and without any external debt or in need of any assistance, the statement further said.