UN Watch’s exclusive report and appeal on Syria’s upcoming presidency of the UN’s top disarmament forum has sparked a global firestorm. The scandal arose yesterday in the U.S. State Department press briefing and then today in the White House press briefing, and is being reported in news media worldwide — including The Associated Press, EFE Brasil, Daily Mail, Lalibre.be, de Volkskrant, Aftonbladet, ntv Nachrichten, Tagesspiegel, New York Post, CNSNews.com, and RFE/RL.
Many other journalists, including correspondents and editors from CNN, The Independent and The Guardian, shared UN Watch’s report on social media — see below.
While as a rule diplomats congratulate every country that chairs a UN session, even dictatorships, when Syria took the gavel in May, UN Watch’s campaign led to the U.S. walking out, and the regime getting condemned by the representatives of the EU, Britain, Germany, France, Canada and the Netherlands.
The U.S. called on Syria to stand down, saying it had “neither the credibility nor moral authority to preside over the Conference on Disarmament.” Britain “deplored” Syria’s presidency. Germany said Syria had “no credibility whatsoever to carry out the presidency.”
And now this: after gassing its own people to death, #Syria to chair UN disarmament forum on chemical & nuclear weapons; watchdog calls on US & EU to walk out https://t.co/s0JfV2xRZP via @unwatch
cc: @nikkihaley @theresa_may @EmmanuelMacron @AmbJohnBolton— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) April 9, 2018
https://www.facebook.com/unwatch/videos/10155274279146561/
Associated Press: US questions Syria’s role in disarmament forum
La Libre (DPA): La Syrie présidera la conférence du désarmement de l’ONU malgré les soupçons d’utilisation d’armes chimiques
“Le fait que le régime syrien de Bachar al-Assad préside la conférence de désarmement mondial des armes chimiques et nucléaires peut être comparé à mettre un violeur en série en charge d’un refuge pour femmes”, a fustigé Hillel Neuer, directeur d’UN Watch.
De Volkskrant (Dutch): Syrië wordt voorzitter van VN-conferentie over ontwapening
UN Watch roept VS en EU op de zitting te boycotten
Syrië wordt eind mei een maand lang voorzitter van de VN-conferentie over ontwapening, een belangrijk forum voor discussies over ontwapeningskwesties. UN Watch, een organisatie die de Verenigde Naties kritisch volgt, roept de Verenigde Staten en de lidstaten van de Europese Unie op de zitting te boycotten, gezien het gebruik door het Syrische regime van chemische wapens.
‘Het regime van Bashar al-Assad een vergadering over chemische en nucleaire ontwapening laten voorzitten, is als een serieverkrachter de leiding in handen geven van een opvanghuis voor vrouwen’, stelt directeur Hillel Neuer in een verklaring. ‘Syrië vergast zijn eigen mannen, vrouwen en kinderen. Syrië een forum laten leiden dat deze slachtoffers zou moeten beschermen, schokt het geweten van de mensheid.’
EFE (Portuguese): ONG denuncia que Síria presidirá Conferência de Desarmamento da ONU em maio
A ONG UN Watch, que vigia as atividades da ONU, denunciou nesta segunda-feira que a Síria presidirá em maio a Conferência de Desarmamento da organização multilateral, o mesmo fórum que elaborou o tratado que proíbe as armas químicas.
“O uso documentado de armas químicas por parte do regime de (o presidente da Síria) Bashar al Assad continua sendo a violação mais grave da Convenção das Armas Químicas nos seus 22 anos de história”, disse o diretor-executivo da UN Watch, Hillel Neuer, em comunicado.
“Pedimos à ONU para entender que, em um momento no qual a Síria está lançando gás a seus próprios homens, mulheres e crianças até a morte, o fato de a Síria presidir o fórum mundial que deve proteger estas vítimas é um choque para a consciência da humanidade”, acrescentou.
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva based non-governmental organisation, United Nations Watch, said: ‘Having the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad preside over global chemical and nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter.’
‘We urge the UN to understand that at a time when Syria is gassing its own men, women, and children to death, to see Syria heading the world body that is supposed to protect these victims will simply shock the conscience of humanity.’
Radio Free Europe: U.S. Says Syria Not Qualified To Head UN Disarmament Forum
“The Assad regime’s documented use of chemical weapons remains the most serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in the treaty’s 20-year history,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of United Nations Watch.
NTV (German): Syrien leitet UN-Abrüstungskonferenz
Darüber hat sich jetzt die Nichtregierungsorganisation UN Watch empört. Deren Geschäftsführer Hillel Neuer sagte in einem Statement: Dass das syrische Regime unter Baschar al-Assad der globalen Abrüstungskonferenz chemischer und nuklearer Waffen vorsitzt, sei in etwa so, als ob ein “Serienvergewaltiger sich um ein Frauenhaus kümmert”. Seine Organisation wolle zusammen mit Opfern syrischer Giftgas-Attacken vor den UN-Gebäuden gegen die Ernennung Syriens protestieren.
Staaten zum Boykott aufgerufen
Die NGO ruft außerdem die verbleibenden Mitgliedsstaaten der UNCD dazu auf, die von Syrien zu leitenden Konferenzen zu boykottieren. Einen ähnlichen Vorgang habe es bereits 2013 durch die USA und Kanada gegeben, als Iran den Vorsitz innehatte
Der Tagesspiegel (German) Syrien erhält Vorsitz m UN-Abrüstungsausschuss
Angesichts des aufziehenden Skandals appelliert die Nichtregierungsorganisation UN Watch an die USA, Deutschland, Frankreich und Großbritannien: Die Länder sollen Sitzungen unter syrischem Vorsitz boykottieren. Ein Präsident aus der Assad-Gefolgschaft werde die Glaubwürdigkeit der Konferenz und der gesamten Vereinten Nationen „untergraben“, warnt Hillel Neuer von der Organisation UN Watch. Es sei wie „einem Serien-Vergewaltiger das Sagen über eine Frauen-Unterkunft zu geben“.
Metro News: Outrage as Syria to head UN chemical arms panel
‘Having the regime of Bashar al-Assad preside over global chemical and nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter,’ said Hillel Neuer of the United Nations Watch monitoring group.
‘Syria holding the president’s gavel is liable to seriously undermine the UN’s credibility, and will send absolutely the worst message.’
Tablet: You’ll Never Guess Who’s Heading the UN’s Conference on Disarmament
The Geneva-based organization UN Watch was the first to draw the attention of world leaders to the appointment, which is the result of an automatic rotation between member states. Hillel Neuer, the director of the organization, is calling for ambassadors to walk out of the room while their Syrian counterpart Hussam Edin Aala chairs the forum.
“At a time when Syria is gassing its own men, women, and children to death,” Neuer said in a statement, “to see Syria heading the body that is supposed to protect these victims will simply shock the conscience of humanity.”
CNS News Assad Regime to Preside Over UN’s WMD Disarmament Forum; US ‘Examining’ How to Respond
“Having the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad preside over global chemical and nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter,” said United Nations Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, whose non-governmental organization is leading calls for a stayaway.
“The Assad regime’s documented use of chemical weapons remains the most serious violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in the treaty’s twenty-year history,” Neuer said.
“We urge the U.N. to understand that at a time when Syria is gassing its own men, women, and children to death, to see Syria heading the world body that is supposed to protect these victims will simply shock the conscience of humanity,” said Neuer.
Algemeiner: Despite Serial Use of Chemical Weapons, Syrian Regime to Chair UN Conference on Disarmament Next Month
The Geneva-based NGO UN Watch said on Monday that it was calling on ambassadors from the US, the EU and other democracies to walk out of the UN’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva during the four weeks when the Syrian regime’s envoy, Hussam Edin Aala, serves as president of the conference.
“Having the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad preside over global chemical and nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter,” Hillel Neuer — executive director of UN Watch — declared in a statement.
Neuer said his organization was urging the UN “to understand that at a time when Syria is gassing its own men, women, and children to death, to see Syria heading the world body that is supposed to protect these victims will simply shock the conscience of humanity.”
Aftonbladet (Swedish): Syrien får leda FN-arbete – mot kemvapen
Organisationen UN Watchs högste chef, Hillel Neuer, påminner i ett uttalande om att Assadregimens kemvapenattacker är väldokumenterade och utgör de värsta överträdelserna under de tjugo år som Konventionen mot kemiska vapen har existerat.
Breitbart: Syria, Accused of Chemical Weapons Attack, Will Preside Over UN Disarmament Conference
Geneva-based NGO UN Watch slammed the move, with its executive director Hillel Neuer saying, “Having the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad preside over global chemical and nuclear weapons disarmament will be like putting a serial rapist in charge of a women’s shelter.”
He called the decision “obscene” and added that it “cast[s] a shadow on the reputation of the UN as a whole.”
