【Lecture Report】Special Lecture “Damascus in the Eye of the Storm: How Human Rights Lost the Agenda in Syria”
Short Bio of the Speaker:
Dr. Chibli Mallat is a renowned international lawyer, professor of Islamic law focusing on nonviolence. He is a Professor at the Law Faculty of the University of Utah.
Lecture Summary: Professor Mallat introduced the topic of retreat of human rights in Syria and started by providing a brief timeline of the main events of the Syrian political unrest escalating into a war. The tensions started in April 2011 as a non-violent rebellion; by 2012, it slowly militarized and the Free Syrian Army aiming to bring down Assad’s regime was formed. They received support of the Sunni international brigade while Assad’s supporters mobilized Shia international brigade from Iran. 50,000 persons died or went missing due to the Syrian tragedy. According to the UN report (2016), 13 million people required humanitarian assistance, six million of them being internally displaced and five million became refugees outside Syria. Three main cities in Syria were destroyed, and the last major city remaining outside Assad’s control by the end of 2018 is Idlib.
Professor Mallat thinks that the central fact was the failure of human rights agenda: first in Syria, then in Europe, then in the rest of the world. The unpunished mass murder led to the rise of extremism within the Syrian opposition, which created an unprecedented inflow of refugees to Europe. This led to massive fear in Europe regarding the impact of poor and destitute refugees to already fragile European economy, and this sentiment culminated in Brexit. Brexit reinforced intolerant populism in Western Europe which led to the rise of populist leaders in Eastern Europe and the United States. Those leaders do not believe in human rights, and defense of human rights seems now left to human rights NGOs.
Professor Mallat suggested a solution of the current situation in the form of a plan to create a human rights zone (HRZ) in Northern Syria. His rationale is as follows: if Assad regains control of Idlib, then the last Syrian territory which could be a potential alternative base for a credible opposition is lost. Several plans for a protected zone have already failed because of the absence of credible opposition and quick domination of Islamist groups that could not be trusted by the US. An important condition for success is removal of militarized Islamist groups by Turkey. Prof. Mallat sees the US as the only power capable of making it happen and to convince Erdogan of a trade between “orderly” removal of the Islamist groups (giving them shelter in Turkey) and support of the HRZ. Its military protection would be done by the US-led Alliance including main European states. Respect for human rights should be an essential condition for the establishment, durability and possible extension of the HRZ. Another important point of Prof.Mallat’s agenda is Syrian women leadership as Syrian women have been at the forefront of the successful opposition movement and could become effective leaders of the HRZ. Prof. Mallat drew parallels between his proposed plan in Syria, Ho Chi Minh’s leadership supported by China and the situation in the North Korea. He believes that using historical, political and legal framework is important for creating a viable plan. He also mentioned that Syrian revolution shouldn’t have been allowed to be militarized in 2012. However, in November 2018, a different agenda is being discussed in the UN and by the regimes which is a transition by the National Unity regime (combining pro-Assad and opposition forces) to the national front.