Syrian Arab Republic | GA Debate 2024 | Bassam Sabbagh's Speech

Syria’s Call for International Accountability at the UN

Statement by H.E. Bassam Sabbagh

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates

of the Syrian Arab Republic

Head of the Delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic to the General Debate

of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

September 30th, 2024

Your Excellency Philémon Yang, President of the General Assembly,

I congratulate you on your election as president of the General Assembly at its current session, and I thank your predecessor H.E. Dennis Francis for presiding over the previous session. I also thank the Secretary General for the efforts exerted to fulfill his mandate under the United Nations Charter.

Mr. President,

Ladies and gentlemen,

As this session of the General Assembly is taking place, tensions internationally have reached a boiling point, and efforts to maintain international peace and security are confronted with real challenges and threats: clashes are intensifying, crises are multiplying, conflicts are escalating, chaos is spreading, terrorism is gaining ground, the global economy is faltering, poverty rates are rising, climate change is accelerating, and development indicators are lagging. These are the unfortunate results of eight decades of multilateral action that have followed the establishment of the United Nations.

While we previously sought to promote preventive diplomacy and the peaceful settlement of disputes, we are witnessing today more direct wars and proxy wars waged using terrorist tools. Instead of harnessing scientific advancements for the benefit and wellbeing of all people, we are witnessing disgraceful use of modern technologies as deadly tools to sow death and destruction. Instead of investing efforts and resources in achieving sustainable development for all, some are flagrantly draining the resources of other countries, stealing from their people, and imposing unilateral coercive measures that impoverish and destroy nations.

Mr. President,

For more than a decade, Syria has experienced unparalleled suffering. It fell victim to a fierce terrorist war, direct attacks on its territories that continue to this day, a multifaceted and stifling economic blockade, and an unprecedented political and media incitement campaign. Billions of dollars were spent to erode the development progress that Syria had worked over decades to achieve. Billions more were spent to spread chaos and undermine security and stability, and to force millions of Syrians to leave their homes, only to become internally displaced or refugees in other countries.

Nevertheless – ladies and gentlemen – rest assured that, despite everything, we have remained faithful to our strong beliefs, our firm positions, and to the choices we made as a nation. Syria never hesitated to protect and defend its people and never faltered in its war on terrorism. Economic hardships did not prevent us from meeting the needs of our people. All that has happened has revealed the true intentions of the collective West, which completely contradict the principles and purposes that formed the pillars of foundation and funcntion of this international organization.

Mr. President,

The ongoing Israeli occupation of Arab territories since 1967, including the Syrian Arab Golan, and the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity it commits, are a glaring example of the failure of this organization, and namely the Security Council, to end this expansionist and racist occupation and the ongoing aggression. It is damning proof that the United States has prevented the Council from fulfilling its responsibility to confront threats to international peace and security.

Since October 7th, the Israeli occupation has continued to commit bloody and terrorist crimes, adding another chapter to its seven-decade-long criminal record. Over the past months, the occupying forces and settler gangs have been carrying out a savage aggression on the Palestinian people and committing a genocide before the eyes of the whole world, which has claimed the lives of more than 42,000 Palestinians, most of whom are children and women.

The Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemns the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and renew its solidarity with its legitimate struggle to liberate their occupied land and establish their independent state on their entire national territory, with Jerusalem as its capital, while ensuring the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland in line with international law and relevant United Nations resolutions. Syria also condemns all attempts to liquidate UNRWA and suspend the services it provides to Palestinians in their land and in neighboring countries. We stress the need to hold Israel accountable for the war crimes it is committing, including the deliberate targeting of more than 200 personnel working for UNRWA and other UN and humanitarian agencies.

In an attempt to cover the failure of its war against the Palestinians and to flee of its internal crisis implicate others in their internal crises and distract from their failed war against the Palestinians, Israeli authorities have chosen to drag the region into a serious escalation, while benefiting from the immunity, impunity, and unlimited support provided by certain countries, in particular the United States, in a clear case of hypocrisy and double standards. Israeli forces have scaled up their attacks on countries of the region, including my country Syria, targeting vital civilian facilities, residential buildings, and even diplomatic premises, resulting in the death of dozens of civilians, significant material damage, and hindering the delivery humanitarian aid to Syrians.

On 27 July 2024, Israeli occupying forces committed another heinous crime against our people in the occupied Syrian Golan, when they targeted the Syrian town of Majdal Shams claimed the lives of 12 Syrian children. The criminal Israeli forces went even further, blaming others for this tragedy and exploiting the death of innocent Syrians for propaganda purposes.

The open Israeli aggression has also extended to our brotherly Lebanon; two weeks ago, the Israeli occupation authorities committed an unprecedented crime against the Lebanese by using the means of communication as a tool to kill unarmed civilians. A few days ago, the Israeli occupation authorities targeted the southern suburb of Beirut with a treacherous and cowardly aggression, destroying an entire residential block, using tons of explosive bombs to assassinate Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who for more than three decades led an honorable Lebanese national resistance against the Israeli occupation.

This large-scale Israeli aggression, which is unfettered by any restrictions and limitations, is pushing the region to the brink of a dangerous escalation and confrontation whose consequences cannot be predicted, and causing disastrous effects on peace and security, not only in our region, but also beyond it.

The Syrian Arab Republic calls on all member states of the United Nations to work towards ending the Israeli aggression against Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, hold the occupation authorities accountable for their crimes, and prevent impunity.

The Syrian Arab Republic unequivocally reiterates that the Golan is an occupied Syrian territory and that its inhabitants are Syrian Arab citizens, who are and will always be an integral part of the people of Syria. They have struggled over decades against the occupation and the unjust annexation, and the attempts to impose the

Zionist identity and all the flagrant and systematic violations at the hands of the brutal occupier. They remain rooted in their land and firm in their beliefs. Their hearts beat and their souls yearn only for Syria until the day they are reunited. Syria reaffirms that recovering the occupied Syrian Golan, in line with UN resolutions 242, 338, and 497, is an inalienable right that shall never be subject to compromise and will never be affected by the passage of time.

Mr. President,

The crimes and attacks of the Israeli occupying forces against Syria cannot be uncoupled from the subversive role played by certain Western countries, especially the United States, in my country Syria. These countries have continued to violate Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, by illegally deploying their military forces inside Syria’s territory, allowing their officials to sneak into Syria, and supporting separatist militias and terrorist groups.

These countries have also worked to exacerbate the humanitarian situation of the Syrian people by depriving them of the benefit of their resources as a result of their systematic looting of Syria’s national riches, such as oil, gas, and wheat, and by imposing inhumane unilateral coercive measures whose disastrous effects have affected all aspects of the daily lives of Syrians.

These measures targeted various vital sectors, most notably the public health sector, which suffered from the inability to provide hospitals with medical equipment and life-saving medicines, in addition to targeting the energy sector, which prevented the provision of electricity, as well as the banking sector and trade exchanges. They also targeted the transportation sector, civil aviation equipment and supplies, and the agricultural sector was not spared from these measures, which prevented obtaining agricultural production requirements, which led to a decline in food security rates.

All the unfounded allegations made by Western countries to justify such illegal measures and to deny or downplay their catastrophic impacts have been laid bare in multiple recent UN reports tackling effects of UCMs imposed on the Syrian Arab Republic. In this context, Syria demands once again the immediate, full, and unconditional lifting of unilateral coercive measures as they amount to a collective punishment of people, a form of economic terrorism, and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international law.

Mr. President,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Since the beginning of the terrorist war on Syria, the Syrian government has responsibly and constructively engaged with all initiatives aimed at preserving Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, protecting its people from terrorists, improving the living conditions of Syrians, and providing basic services. Many measures have been taken to that end, which can be summed up in the following:

One: mobilizing all efforts to eradicate terrorist groups, such as ISIL and Al-Nusra Front / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which are designated on the Security Council lists of terrorist groups and associated entities. And to put an end to their dark thinking, extremist ideology, and practices based on killing, torture, enforced disappearance, restriction of freedoms, recruitment of children, discrimination, and violence against women and girls.

The Syrian government continues to confront the remaining organizations to end the suffering of Syrians in the areas which they still control, and to put an end to their attacks on the safe people. In addition to calling on all countries to repatriate their citizens currently detained in illegal centers in northeastern Syria to end and close them due to the danger they pose to them in the future.

Two: pursuing national reconciliation and local settlement agreements, where 23 amnesty decrees have been issued, which facilitated the social reintegration of those who had lost their way. The most recent of these was legislative decree number 27 of 22 September, which declares a general amnesty for crimes committed before its issuance date.

Three: supporting and facilitating humanitarian access by granting the UN multiple authorizations to use three border crossings to deliver humanitarian assistance to eligible Syrian civilians in northwest Syria and by granting the necessary approvals for humanitarian deliveries from inside Syria, despite all of the attempts to obstruct humanitarian access and steal or divert the aid.

Four: Continuing the efforts of the Syrian state institutions to enhance their role and increase their efficiency, by holding on time all constitutionally mandated entitlements, and following up on the process of economic and administrative development and reform; and moving forward with efforts to modernize legislative structures, including those related to strengthening the rule of law, developing media work, social protection programs and empowering women, protecting the rights of children and persons with disabilities, implementing the strategic plan for gender equality, and developing legislation regulating conscription, in addition to organizing a series of comprehensive dialogues with representatives of various segments of society and civil activities to establish the approach of dialogue and partnership.

Five: sparing no efforts to support the dignified return of refugees and displaced people to their areas. An agreement was reached with the Office UNHCR on several measures, which were announced last year and are currently being implemented. Discussions are also ongoing with certain neighboring countries to launch innovative projects that allow the provision of basic services, which could be a model to assist facilitating and accelerating return.

Six: openly engaging with all the efforts and initiatives made at the political level, including taking part in the Astana meetings, which have achieved concrete results. The Syrian government is also in constant contact with the UN Special Envoy for Syria and is cooperating with him in line with his mandated role as a facilitator of a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process. We look forward to his successful convening of the ninth round of the constitution discussion committee soon.

Seven: committing to dialogue and diplomacy as a basis to a course for correcting relations with other countries. The Syrian government has positively engaged with the various initiatives put forward in this regard, in line with our firm belief that the interests of countries must be built on sound relations based on specific principles and clear grounds to achieve the desired objectives, in particular mutual respect for states’ sovereignty and territorial unity, joint action to address threats to security and stability, and pursuing common interests without interfering in internal affairs.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As Syria heals the wounds of what it has been exposed to, it looks to the future with a sense of hope and optimism. However, the success of its efforts necessarily requires the collective West to stop politicizing humanitarian work and linking it to political conditionality, donors to fulfill their pledges in humanitarian funding, and to provide sustainable solutions for livelihoods and support for resilience, including by working to strengthen early recovery projects and increase their quantity and quality, and the immediate, complete and unconditional lifting of unilateral coercive measures.

Mr. President,

Syria reiterates its demand for a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, in line with the 1995 Middle East resolution. Israel must therefore be compelled to eliminate its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, join relevant international treaties and conventions, and place its installations under the international monitoring.

Syria expresses its support and solidarity with Arab countries, especially those facing challenging circumstances resulting from foreign interference, natural events, or climate change.

Syria reiterates its support to the right of the Russian Federation to defend itself and to preserve its national security in response to the West’s hostile policies, and in rejection of the logic of hegemony, and unipolarity. Syria also condemns the attempts to confiscate Russian financial assets.

Syria expresses once again its full support to the Islamic Republic of Iran and its legitimate right to defend its national security, as guaranteed by the UN Charter, and its right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. We commend Iran’s constructive and responsible approach in this regard.

Syria renews its support to the One China principle and the stances of the People’s Republic of China as it faces external attempts to interfere in its internal affairs. We stress China’s inalienable right to take the measures and steps it deems necessary to defend its sovereignty and confront the escalation against it.

Syria condemns the decades-long United States’ economic embargo on Cuba, and rejects the issuance of the infamous list called “The countries sponsoring terrorism”. Syria calls for an end to the US military drills and exercises on the Korean peninsula, as they contribute to raising tensions in that region. My country reiterates its solidarity with Venezuela in the face of the flagrant interference in their internal affairs and the hostile policies against them.

Syria calls for the immediate lifting of all unilateral coercive measures imposed by Western countries on Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Belarus, Cuba, Nicaragua, the DPRK, , Eritrea, and others, as well as on Syria. We also underscore the need to stop all attempts of interfering in these countries and to respect their sovereignty and independent decisions.

Mr. President,

Ladies and gentlemen,

In conclusion, I would like to call on the countries of the world to summon the courage and make the right choice to guarantee a better present and future for present and future generations, and save humanity from the scourge of all-out wars looming on the horizon, by supporting the establishment of a more just and balanced multipolar global order, governed by the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter, and to reform international political and financial institutions to end the state of hegemony and unipolarity, and deters attempts to undermine the Charter and replace it with the so-called “rules-based order.”

The Syrian Arab Republic, while looking forward to the current session of the General Assembly, under your leadership, to be able to fulfill the promise of its theme: “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development and human dignity for present and future generations.” stresses that success in translating this theme into a practical reality requires abandoning the policies of hegemony, exclusion, blockade and collective punishment of peoples, and adhering to the Charter of our organization, respecting international law and multilateral diplomacy, and granting developing countries equal opportunities to advance their societies and achieve well-being, prosperity and sustainable development for their peoples.

Thank you, Mr. President.