Patriarch Ephraim II & world church leaders demand that Biden cancel coercive measures imposed on Syria

Damascus (ST): Patriarch Mar Ignatius Ephraim II, Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole East, for the Syriac Orthodox Church, the supreme president of the Syriac Church in the world, called on US President Joe Biden to lift the unilateral coercive measures being imposed on Syria that target its people for their livelihood and worsen their suffering in light of the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

In a letter sent by Patriarch Ephraim II and a number of church leaders and politicians around the world to Biden on the occasion of his assuming presidency they said that the immediate annulment of these measures has become an urgent issue in light of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and its coincidence with the difficult conditions and the repercussions that these illegal measures have left, especially on the health sector.

The letter reminded President Biden of the findings of the UN Special Rapporteur, Dohan, at the end of last December, that the coercive measures against Syria were the cause of the severe conditions that Syrians live, especially in light of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic and denying them access to health and humanitarian aid.

The letter stressed that these conclusions reflect an increasing consensus among humanitarian agencies and human rights organizations that this form of illegal punitive measures against civilians aggravates the suffering of the Syrian people in an unprecedented way.

The letter called on Washington to stop using these unilateral measures to achieve its interests at the expense of people, especially through the unfair sanctions being imposed on Syria, which were among the reasons for the displacement of many Syrians.

K.Q.