Sehr geehrter Herr Präsident!
Wir gratulieren Ihnen zu Ihrer Amtseinführung als 46. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika.
Ohne Umschweife wenden wir uns an Sie, um von Ihnen eine dringende Antwort auf die schwere humanitäre Krise in Syrien zu erbitten. Prof. Alena Douhan, Sonderberichterstatterin der Vereinten Nationen zu den negativen Auswirkungen der einseitigen Zwangsmaßnahmen, rief die Vereinigten Staaten Ende Dezember auf, ihre komplexen Wirtschaftssanktionen aufzuheben, die der Bevölkerung Syriens schweren Schaden zufügen.
Die Sonderberichterstatterin stellte fest, dass die US-Sanktionen „die Menschenrechte der syrischen Bevölkerung verletzen“ und „die bereits schreckliche humanitäre Situation in Syrien, besonders im Verlauf der COVID-19-Pandemie, verschärfen“, indem sie Nothilfe, Handel und Investitionen verhindern, die notwendig sind für das Funktionieren des syrischen Gesundheitssystems und der Wirtschaft.
Die Ergebnisse der Sonderberichterstatterin spiegeln den wachsenden Konsens innerhalb der Gemeinschaft der Hilfs- und Menschenrechtsorganisationen wider, der besagt, dass diese Form der kollektiven Bestrafung der Zivilbevölkerung Syrien in eine noch nie dagewesene humanitäre Katastrophe führt.
Vor zehn Jahren war Syrien der Brotkorb der Region. Heute steht Syrien nach Angaben des Welternährungsprogramms der Vereinten Nationen (WFP) nicht nur am Rande des Hungers, sondern des Verhungerns. Im vergangenen Juni warnte der Exekutivdirektor des WFP, der frühere Gouverneur David Beasley, dass die Hälfte aller Syrer hungrig zu Bett geht, und dass sich das Land am Rande einer „großen Hungersnot“ befindet. Inzwischen tobt in Syrien die COVID-19-Pandemie, der das in zehn Kriegsjahren weitgehend zerstörte Gesundheitssystem nichts entgegenzusetzen hat.
Millionen von bedrängten Syrern werden heute hungrig und frierend zu Bett gehen. Von den USA verhängte einseitige Zwangsmaßnahmen verschlimmern die Wirtschaftsmisere der syrischen Bevölkerung.
Wir bitten Sie eindringlich, Herr Präsident, durch die Umsetzung der Empfehlung der UN-Sonderberichterstatterin den Syrern zu helfen, jene humanitäre Krise zu beheben, die eine neue Welle der Instabilität im Mittleren Osten und darüber hinaus mit sich bringen kann.
Wir sind überzeugt, dass die legitimen nationalen Interessen der Vereinigten Staaten erreicht werden können, ohne die Bevölkerung Syriens gemeinschaftlich durch Wirtschaftssanktionen zu bestrafen.
Hochachtungsvoll,
The President January 21, 2021
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President, We extend to you our congratulations upon your inauguration as the 46th President of the United States.
We wish to lose no time approaching you for an urgent response to the severe humanitarian crisis in Syria. The UN Special Rapporteur on Unilateral Coercive Measures, Prof. Alena Douhan, appealed at the end of December for the United States to lift its complex web of economic sanctions that severely harm the people of Syria.
The Special Rapporteur stated that that these U.S. sanctions “violate the human rights of the Syrian people” and “exacerbate the already dire humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in the course of COVID-19 pandemic”, by blocking the aid, trade and investment necessary for Syria’s health system and economy to function.
The Special Rapporteur’s findings reflect a growing consensus in the humanitarian aid and human rights communities that this form of collective punishment of the civilian population is driving Syria into an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
Ten years ago, Syria was a breadbasket for the region. Today it is on the verge of not just hunger, but of starvation, according to the World Food Program (WFP). Last June, the WFP’s Director, former Governor David Beasley, warned that half of all Syrians were going to bed hungry, and that the country was on the brink of “mass starvation.” Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic is raging through the country, unhindered by a healthcare system largely destroyed over ten years of war.
Millions of hard-pressed Syrians will go to bed hungry and cold tonight. Unilateral coercive measures imposed by the United States make the economic plight of the Syrian people worse.
We urge you, Mr. President, to help Syrians to alleviate a humanitarian crisis that threatens to trigger a new wave of instability in the Middle East and beyond by implementing the UN Special Rapporteur’s recommendation.
We believe that the legitimate national interests of the United States can be pursued without collectively punishing the people of Syria by means of economic sanctions.
Respectfully,
Prof. Dr. Michael Abs, Secretary-General, Middle East Council of Churches
His Beatitude, Joseph Absi, Melkite Greek
Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and of All the
East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
Abdelmadjid Ait Saadi, Chairman,
International Cultural Activities, Algiers
Baron (John) Alderdice, former Speaker,
Northern Ireland Assembly, Director, the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict, Oxford 2/4
Baron (David) Alton of Liverpool, KCSG, KCMCO, Vice-Chair APPG for International Freedom of Religion or Belief
Dr. med. Nabil Antaki, Blue Marists of Aleppo
His Holiness, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Syriac
Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Most Revd. Joseph Arnaoutian, Bishop,
Armenian Catholic Diocese of Damascus
Revd. Dr. Andrew Ashdown, Humanitarian
Aid Relief Trust, (HART), London
Most Revd. Antoine Audo, SJ, Chaldean
Catholic Bishop of Syria
Karine Bailly, President,
Solidarité Chrétiens d’Orient
The Hon. Gérard Bapt, former Deputy,
National Assembly, Republic of France
Prof. Dr. Adel Ben Youssef, University
of Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Benjamin Blanchard, General Director,
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient, Paris
Ivana Borsotto, President, Federazione
Organismi Cristiani Servizio Internazionale Volontario
José Bustani, former Ambassador & former Director, Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Rt. Revd. (George) Lord Carey,
former Archbishop of Canterbury
Dr Anas Chebib, President, Collectif pour la Syrie & France-Near East Association
Dr. med. Selma Cherif, Vice Présidente
de l'ATLMST- SIDA, Tunisia
Norbert Clasen, Publicist, Germany
Rt. Revd. Christopher Cocksworth,
Bishop of Coventry
Pierre le Corf, Humanitarian Aid Worker, Aleppo
Baron (Patrick) Cormack of Enville
Baroness (Caroline) Cox of Queensbury,
Founder, Humanitarian Aid and Relief Trust (HART)
The Hon. Pierre Cuipers, Senator, Republic of France
General Francis Richard Baron Dannatt,
GCB, CBC, MC, DL
Dr. med. Maher Daoud, President,
French-Syrian Medical Association
Didier Destremau, former French Ambassador & President, France-Syria Friendship Association
Brig. General (ret) Grégoire Diamantidis,
Air Force of the Republic of France
Dr. John Eibner, International President,
Christian Solidarity International (CSI)
François Ernenwein, President,
Confrontations (Association of Christian
Intellectuals), France
Jorge M. Dias Ferreira, Main Representative of New Humanity to the United Nations
Dr. Vilmos Fischl, Secretary-General,
Ecumenical Council of Churches of Hungary
Revd. Fr. Peter Fuchs, Director, CSI-Germany
Revd. Hans-Martin Gloël, Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD)
Dr. Joy Gordon, Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Chair
in Social Ethics, Loyola University-Chicago
Mezri Haddad, former Ambassador,
Republic of Tunisia
Dr. Salem El-Hamid, President,
German-Syrian Society 3/4
Prof. Dr. Franz Hamburger, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz
Most Revd. Dr. Gregor Maria Hanke, OSB,
Bishop, Diocese of Eichstätt
Revd. Ernst Herbert, Ecumenical Committee
for Religious Liberty, Germany
Fr. Ziad Hillal, SJ
Hellmut Hoffmann, former Ambassador,
Federal Republic of Germany
Col. Jacques Hogard, Officer of the Legion
of Honor & President, EPEE, Paris
Major General (ret.) John Taylor Holmes,
DSO, OBE, MC, former Director of Special Forces, British Army
Most Revd. Vitus Huonder,
former Bishop of Chur
Dr. Erica Hunter, Senior Lecturer, SOAS,
University of London
Lord (Raymond) Hylton of Hylton,
ARICS, DL
Most Revd. Jean-Clement Jeanbart,
Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo
Professor Emeritus, Edmond Jouve,
University of Paris
Baron (Frank) Judd, former Minister for Overseas Development
The Hon. Christianne Kammerman,
former Senator, Republic of France
Mohamed Karboul, former Ambassador, Tunisia
Dr. Sabine Kebir, weltnetz.tv, Berlin
Dr. Ridha Kechrid, former Minister of Health &
former Ambassador, Republic of Tunisia
Dr Makram Khoury-Machool, Director, European Center for the Study of Extremism,
Cambridge
Fr. Benedict Kiely, Founder, Nasorean.org
Most Revd. Fülöp Kocsis, Archbishop,
Greek Catholic Diocese of Hajdudorog
Paul Kurt, Chairman, International Society of Oriental Christians (IGOC)
Prof. Joshua Landis, Director of Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma
Rt. Revd. Michael Langrish, former Bishop of Exeter
Revd. Fr Hervé Legrand, OP, Vice-President,
Confrontations (Association of French Christian Intellectuals)
Prof. Dr. med. Karl Lehner, Rosenheim
Daniel Lillis, MA, KHS, Director, Lillis International Government Relations
Consultancy, London
Ricardo Loy Madera, Secretary General,
Manos Unidas, Madrid
Ahmed Manai, President, Tunisian Institute
for International Relations
Mouna Mansour, President, Coeurs sans Frontières
The Hon. Thierry Mariani, Member of European Parliament
The Hon. Philippe Marini, Mayor of Compiègne & former Senator, France
Kenneth Charles McDonald, President,
Marist International Solidarity Foundation (FMSI)
Charles de Meyer, President of SOS Chretiens d’Orient
Clemens Count von Mirbach-Harff, Secretary-General, Malteser International 4/4
Rt. Revd. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, President, Oxford Centre for Training and Research Development (OXTRAD)
Revd. Ibrahim Nseir, Presbyterian Church, Aleppo
Peter Oborne, Journalist and Broadcaster, London
Clara Pardo, President of Manos Unidas, Madrid
Françoise Parmentier, President, Actenscène, Paris
Revd. Albert Pataky, President, Pentecostal Church of Hungary
Very Revd. Mario Alexis Portella, J.D., J.C.D.,
Chancellor, Archdiocese of Florence
Revd. Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former Master of the Order of Preachers
Michel Raimbaud, former Ambassador,
Republic of France
General David John Baron Ramsbotham,
GCB, CBE
Col. François Richard, Founder and Chairman, CPP, Ar-Bed Conseil
Dr. med. Antoine Salloum, President,
Soins Pour Tous, Paris
Most Revd. Dr. Athanasius Schneider,
Auxiliary Bishop of Astana
Revd. Prof. Dr. Michael Schneider, SJ,
St. Georgen-College, Frankfurt am Main
Prof. Dr. Hans Otto Seitschek,
Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich
Revd. Haroutune Selimian, President,
Armenian Evangelical Church in Syria
Most Revd. András Veres, Bishop of Győr,
President of the Hungarian Bishop’s Conference
Prof. Dr. Michel Veuthey, Associate Professor of International law, Webster University, Geneva
Dr. Audrey Wells, Hon Research Associate,
Royal Hollow College, University of London
Admiral (ret.) Alan William Baron West of Spithead, GCB, DSC, PC, former First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, Royal Navy
Rt. Revd. Dr. (Rowan) Lord Williams,
former Archbishop of Canterbury
The Hon. Jean-Pierre Vial, Former Senator,
Republic of France
His Beatitude, Ignatius Youssef III Younan,
Syriac Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
*Institutional affiliations are presented only for the purposes of personal identification.
