Mr. Ban Ki
Moon, UN Secretary General
Subject:
Urgent appeal following the incidents of the town of Maaloula
in Syria
Petitioner:
The Christian Gathering Lebanon
(Beit Anya)
Dear
UN Secretary General,
From
4 to 8 September 2013, documented facts were reported by international and
namely western media, revealing that the town of Maaloula
in Syria
was the victim of several armed attacks led by Islamists that oppose the Syrian
authorities. These incidents made at least three dead among the population of
Maaloula, and were marked by acts of vandalism that targeted the town’s
religious and historical sites. Consequently, the Christian population’s
displacement from Maaloula and the country was accelerated.
For
over two years now, Christians in Syria
have been exposed to a series of attacks and persecutions, the most
reprehensible of which being the abduction, on April 23, 2013, of two Christian
bishops, who remain in custody. Moreover, innocents have been killed, places of
worship burnt, and more than 450 thousand out of two million Syrian Christians
deported, as stated by Patriarch Gregory III Laham, one of the leaders of the
Syrian clergy. The forced migration of Syria ’s
Christians prompted the Vatican ’s
bishops on January 2013 to launch and appeal calling for their protection and
the preservation of their presence in their homelands.
Sir,
The
“Christian Gathering” would like to draw your attention to the fact that the
population of Maaloula, who has been the latest target of these systematic acts
of persecution, belongs to autochthonous Christian communities having inhabited
this land for more than two thousand years. From a cultural point of view, they
stand out for being the last population to speak ancient Aramaic, and to teach
it to children at school. It is noteworthy that this language is one of the
constituents of civilization in the Middle East
in particular, and the world in general, for being the language spoken by Jesus
Christ, as proven by historical studies.
It
is also worth recalling that the religious and historical sites in Maaloula
form an integral part of the culture of this community whose roots in this land
are centuries old. They constitute a cultural asset for humanity as a whole.
Sir,
What
is happening in Maaloula should be the subject of your direct and personal
attention, and that of the organization as a whole. As a matter of fact, one of
the main purposes of the organization, as stated in its charter, consists in “promoting
and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”.
Sir,
What
has been inflicted to Maaloula, and more generally to Christians in Syria , Iraq ,
Egypt , or Occupied Palestine,
who are being conceptually rejected as humans, individuals, and communities, is
a blatant violation of the principles enshrined in the UN charter, as well as
in most articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Moreover, it is
a clear violation of the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide”, the “International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination”, the “Declaration on the Elimination of All
Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief”, and
most importantly “The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” (16
December 1966), in addition to a large number of international instruments that
are part of the International Humanitarian Law, and that require the United
Nations to act promptly in order to defend Maaloula with its population and
heritage. It is also the UN’s responsibility to defend the above-mentioned
instruments that are part of the UN-system.
Sir,
The
“Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities” adopted and disseminated by the UNGA on
December 18, 1992 applies fully and precisely to the current situation of
Maaloula’s population, as well as to all the persecuted religious communities
in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, and other countries in our region. The
above-mentioned declaration actually stresses that your noble organization
considers that “the promotion and protection of the rights of persons belonging
to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities contribute to the
political and social stability of States in which they live” and “would
contribute to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation among peoples and
States”. The declaration further states expressly that the “United Nations has
an important role to play regarding the protection of minorities”. It is a role
assigned to you personally, sir, as per article 9 of the Declaration, providing
that “the specialized agencies and other organizations of the United Nations
system shall contribute to the full realization of the rights and principles
set forth in the present Declaration, within their respective fields of
competence.”
Based
on the above, and on all the general principles of the International Humanitarian
law, we urge you to take action as soon as possible, and to leave no stone
unturned before achieving the following:
1-
To include the persecutions
and attacks committed against religious communities in the Middle East, and
namely those perpetrated in the past few years in Iraq ,
Syria , Egypt , and Palestine ,
in the agenda of the UNGA’s session, expected to be held in the few upcoming
days.
2-
To work on the creation of
an international fact-finding committee, in order to conduct filed visits to
the places where these tragedies are occurring, starting from Maaloula in Syria , so as to establish facts and ensure moral
and effective protection to the victims of persecution.
3-
To launch an appeal by the
UNGA, and issue a presidential statement by the UNSC, condemning perpetrations
against minorities, and stressing, based on numerous past humanitarian
tragedies, that the protection of such groups constitutes an international
responsibility that is intrinsically linked to international peace and
security.
4-
To exert serious and strenuous efforts in the
aim of listing the historical sites and places of worship of Maaloula as “World
Heritage” as defined by UNESCO’s UN registered “Convention concerning the
Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage” (16 November 1972).
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