In view of the increasing violence in Syria, the physicians' peace organisation, IPPNW, asks the German government, in the Security Council to work for deescalating measures and towards dialogue between the Assad government and the Syrian opposition. The international community should urgently insist on the absence of violence in the demonstrations, as well as that the government resist responding with violent means. The export of weapons of war and other armaments to the region should be stopped immediately.
„We were pleased with the German government’s 'no' to the Libyan war and appeal to the Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, to speak out against the isolation of Syria ad be active in negotiations between the parties in the conflict,“ said IPPNW Chairman Matthias Jochheim.
Sanctions against Syria, which are also supported by the German government, are in the opinion of the IPPNW, the wrong tool. They create commercial and social problems in the country and weaken civil society. The physicians’ peace organisation appeals to the Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, to send back to the country the German ambassador to Syria, who was called back „for consultation“.
The IPPNW is worried by media reports about the said training of Syrian deserters by US and NATO military experts in Turkey and about the smuggling of weapons which the NATO base in Turkey, Incirlik, is said to be being used for. The statement of Wjatscheslaw Dsirkaln the vice-head of the Russian federal department for military-technical co-operation, that the delivery of weapons to Syria will not be stopped, does not help towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict.
The IPPNW sees any further escalation in the direction of western military intervention, as in the case of Libya, as disastrous for further development in Syria and the whole region. According to information from the rebels in Libya 50,000 people were killed in the war there and considerable damage was done to the infrastructure.
For Syria too, one has to say: Warlike intervention is no way to defend human rights, but is carried out in the interests of the power elites involved. The victims are always in the majority civilians, whose elementary human right to life is ignored.
Press contact:
Angelika Wilmen, Tel. 030 - 698 074 15, German Section, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and in Social Responsibility (IPPNW), Koertestr. 10, 10967 Berlin, www.ippnw.de
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