UN Watch calls for stronger text at HRC Special Session on Syria

Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch commends the sponsors of today’s session.
Sadly, however, four years have passed since this council last convened such an urgent meeting. During this time, hundreds of thousands have been murdered and maimed, and millions displaced. The forces of Bashar al-Assad are aided and abetted by the warplanes, arms, and gunmen of Russia, Iran, and the Hezbollah terrorist organization.
Today is a chance for this council to take action for Syria’s desperate victims. Does the resolution before us achieve this objective?
Yesterday, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the General Assembly that “accountability starts by speaking the truth about who is responsible for the unspeakable horrors we are witnessing”; and that “the perpetrators have names.” UN Watch agrees.
Yesterday, Ambassador Power said that if we don’t call out Russia by its name, “we obscure responsibility.” UN Watch agrees.
Yesterday, Ambassador Power declared: “Now is not the time to equivocate or use euphemisms. Not when hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk. The value of this institution, and all it stands for, depends on it.” Mr. President, we agree.
And so why is it that that today’s resolution strongly condemns ISIS, yet refuses to even mention once Russia, Iran, or Hezbollah — the key forces behind the Assad regime, responsible for the vast majority of death and destruction in Syria?
Are not the vague references to the supporters of the Syrian authorities precisely the equivocation and euphemism that Ambassador Power rightly denounced as a threat to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, and to the credibility of the United Nations?
Finally: how can it be that, right now, outside this chamber, the UN has on permanent display a statue donated by the Syrian regime — and of all things, a statue of the Goddess of Justice? Is this not the height of cynicism? Is this not a standing insult to the millions who suffer daily? When will the council take action to remove it?
Thank you, Mr. President.