Khaddour: The Israeli continuous barbaric aggression on the Palestinian people a flagrant violation of international law

 Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Vienna Hassan Khaddour has condemned with the strongest terms the Israeli occupation’s barbaric aggression, random shelling and killing of innocent Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, occupied Al-Quds and the rest of the Palestinian territories.

Khaddour made the remarks during the online session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in the UN headquarters in Vienna. He stressed that these Israeli aggressive acts flagrantly violate the international humanitarian law and amount to crimes against humanity, urging international community to act immediately to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and support their legitimate rights, including the right to self-determination and to establish an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital in accordance with relevant UN resolutions.

In a different context, the Syrian diplomat affirmed that Syria is a party in most international treaties concerned with preventing organized crime, reiterating Syria’s keenness on modernizing its laws in line with international agreements. He pointed out that during the past years, the Syrian government issued a set of laws dealing with fighting all forms of crime, noting Law No. 14 for 2021 on banning the smuggling of people and on protecting immigrants.

 He said that before the crisis, Syria ranked third in the world in terms of the absence of organized crime. However, during the past ten years, the situation in Syria has changed as large numbers of the most dangerous criminals and terrorists have come to Syria from different parts of the world with the help and funding from regional and international parties which armed these terrorists and provided them with sophisticated communication devices. He addied that these groups have committed all forms of crime, including human trafficking, human organs traficking and sexual exploitation, in addition to destroying and looting Syrian heriateg monaments and antiquities, many of which date back to more than 2000 years ago.

Khaddour reiterated Syria’s aspiration for more cooperation by the Drugs and Crime Fighting Office, particularly after terrorist attacks have targeted civil Status departments and caused massive destruction to the infrastructure.

He reaffirmed that the war circumstances and the unilateral coercive economic sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States has led to huge refugee waves towards neighboring countries followed by increasing crimes of the human trafficking that mainly involve children. He pointed out that such crimes necessitate drawing up an immediate working plan to protect the Syrians residing in refugee camps, help them return to their homeland and lift the imposed western sanctions to provide suitable living conditions for these refugees.

Hamda Mustafa