6 minute read
HUMAN SECURITY
A DEADLY HARVEST
After the initial euphoria of the Arab Spring, millions across the Middle East suffer from gross violations of their human rights, with their oppressors on both sides immune from any accountability.
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SYNERGIA FOUNDATION
RESEARCH TEAM
The Tunisian inspired ‘Arab Spring’ that spread like wildfire to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria in the early months of 2011 promised much to the long-suppressed masses of these countries. However, soon the euphoria turned into distress as the unexpected upheaval brought with it destabilisation and disruptions in existing political, economic and administrative ecosystems, followed by bloodshed and unending civil wars. Worse, despite all the sacrifices, the much-coveted transition to democracy remained a mirage.
The peaceful protests quickly degenerated into armed struggles across the region as rival rebel groups took control of their respective ethnic areas and fought pitched battles with each other and the government, turning whole cities into a mountain of rubble. Extra regional players and nonstate entities entered the fray as proxies of regional powers, adding to the mayhem. The tragedy was that what began as a campaign to restore human rights ended up with mass perpetration of some of the worst human rights violations in Libya, Syria and Yemen.
The whole world cheered from the sidelines as the international media beamed images of enthusiastic crowds toppling authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and besieging well-entrenched tyrants in Syria and Libya. However, when the killings started and the despots struck back with vengeance and little remorse, there was silence in the galleries. The human rights violations by all sides seemed out of control and beyond the judicial reach of the international community.
The recent case of Anwar Raslan, a former colonel in Assad’s army, sentenced to life in prison (with a chance for parole after 15 years) by a German court comes as a flash of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape. As the head of the investigative unit in the notorious Damascus detention centre (Branch 251), he was convicted for 4000 cases of torture, 27 cases of murder and other violations, conducted in a systematic manner under state control. But the question remains, is this too little and too late?
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
As the first legal action taken on the global fora, demanding accountability from one of the parties committing crimes against humanity (this time a sovereign state), it raises the hope that at long last, the victims on all sides of the conflict will be delivered justice. After all, the rebel forces opposing tyrants like Assad and Ghaddafi, supported by regional and extra-regional powers, have been equally ruthless in their military campaign, making little concessions for the civilians caught in crossfire. This is true for the entire stretch of Middle Eastern trouble spots - from Iraq to Syria to Yemen and elsewhere too. Even powerful states like Saudi Arabia and its partner UAE have a lot of blood on their hands in Yemen, as have the western-supported rebels in Syria - the Free Syrian Army (FSA)/ Supreme Military Council (SMC).
The list of organisations and states which need to be called to account for human rights violations is long and convoluted. In Syria, it includes the Assad regime (already impugned in the German court), and the opposition FSA/ SMC combine and the civilian Syrian National Coalition, supported by the West, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In the killing fields of Yemen, the two major fighting factions are—Iranbacked Houthi rebels who were initially loyal to Mr Abdullah Saleh (the first President of Yemen against whose regime the Arab Spring protests began) and the multi-national coalition backed by Saudi Arabia and UAE. In Libya, the two major warring parties are – the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) supported by the West, Qatar, Italy and Turkey and warlord Khalifa Haftar’s Tobruk government backed by Russia, Egypt, UAE and Saudi.
Ever since these countries descended into chaos and bloodletting, they have faded from global consciousness. Having degenerated into ‘forgotten wars’, external powers with vested geopolitical interests and avarice for their natural resources, are adding fuel to the fire.
ESTABLISHING ACCOUNTABILITY
If the sentencing of Anwar Raslan in Koblenz, Germany, has brought the systemic abuse of people, by the Assad regime, to the fore, Yemen under Saleh and Libya under Gaddafi’s brutal rule were no different. However, like Shakespeare would put it, “from smoke to smother”- all these countries descended into greater mayhem.
Unfortunately, the state actors are not the only oppressors there are. Non-state actors and fringe elements have taken advantage of the political disarray to organise and re-group into powerful terrorist factions of all hues, known for their inhumane barbarity. The economy of each of these conflict-torn countries is in shambles, and the fighting is sustained by their external sponsors. The Iran-Saudi battle in Yemen and the Russian and American affiliates in Syria and Libya lay bare the hypocrisy of the larger international community. Yemen and Syria have witnessed incessant airstrikes in civilian areas from countries like the U.S., Russia and Saudi Arabia under the garb of fighting “terrorist groups.” Land, sea and air blockades imposed by coalition forces have also obstructed the flow of food and medicines. As a result, almost the entire citizenry is dependent on humanitarian aid for survival - 1.3 million people in Libya, 20.7 million in Yemen and 13.4 million Syrians - making these countries the site of the worst humanitarian catastrophe of the century.
The Koblenz verdict is a morbid reminder of the fact that victims of state persecution often have no recourse to justice. Similarly, international law is weak, when it comes to establishing attribution and accountability for foreign powers fuelling the conflict. This is especially true when the states involved are rich, powerful and influential. The trial that took place in Germany was under the pretext of “Universal Jurisdiction” – under it, countries can prosecute international crimes that take place outside of their boundaries. While it may have shone a bleak light of hope for civilians, it has taken a decade of war and a prior defection by the said convict to hold him accountable for his misdeeds.
10 YEARS LATER: KEY NUMBERS BEHIND THE WAR IN SYRIA
Human and economic cost of the war in Syria as of 2021
387,000
200,000 60%
Number of people killed Instances where chemical weapons have been used Number of people missing Instances of 38 regime using 32 chemical weapons Share of Syria controlled by the regime in March 2021
Highest number of people killed in a single chemical attack 1,400
Number of Syrian refugees
5.6m
Number of Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance
13.4m
Number of Syrians Internally displaced
6.1m
Economic cost of the war
€1 trillion
Source: RTE SYNERGIA FOUNDATION
Assessment
The fighting will inevitably stop when the warring parties run out of resources like money and arms. But the onus of cutting the supply off lies on larger global powers who are responsible for fuelling these conflicts. Despite widespread knowledge about the inhumanity of some of these ruling regimes, they tend to find recognition and collaboration, as was recently seen in the case of outreach by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan to Bashar Al-Assad.
The Raslan conviction may create a temporary chimaera of a just world, but it is not an achievement in the larger scheme of things. Demand for accountability, a decade into the war, thousands of miles away from the region of action, makes a mockery of justice in itself. This, coupled with the consistent blocking of resolutions by the U.S.U.K. camp and the China-Russia axis in the UN Security Council, has not led to any concrete action on the global fora. The World Food Program is slowly running out of resources to feed the starving millions, considering that the situation has only deteriorated over the decade.
