YouSaid · the spoken record

Hala

lines on the record

6

first

2019-08-07

most recent

2019-08-07

sittings or episodes

1

sources

un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “We do not accept prisoner exchanges arranged between military sides as a replacement for a real solution to the detention crisis in Syria. Exceptional courts, - especially field, war and counter-terrorism courts - must be abolished and fair trials guaranteed under United Nations supervision. A new, peaceful Syria cannot be built while people are still being tortured and executed. We cannot move on without answers about our loved ones. If the Council fails in delivering what I have called for here, it will again fail the Syrian people and we will hold it responsible.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source

2. “In the case of the death of a detainee, a death certificate is not enough; a report on the real cause of death and burial location must be presented to the families. International humanitarian organizations and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic must be allowed unconditional access to detention facilities. Medical organizations must be allowed to examine the health situation of detainees and provide medical services to those who need it. Those detained must be allowed routine contact with their families. The resolution must demand the immediate and unilateral release of those who have been arbitrarily detained. A timetable must be set for identifying and releasing all detained individuals as part of any peace process, monitored by an international independent body.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source

3. “As families whose loved ones have been forcibly disappeared, we live in a constant state of uncertainty, not knowing where our relatives are or what has happened to them. Mothers in my country take dangerous trips to courthouses and detention centres every day. They stand for hours waiting for an answer. They often come back home broken with nothing new, yet they make that trip again and again. Families want graves to mourn their loved ones - even that simple right is something we have to ask for today. As families, we have suffered enough. I am here today to urge the Council to act. The Council must adopt a resolution to put pressure on the Syrian Government and all warring sides to immediately release a list of names of all detainees, along with their current locations and status, and immediately stop torture and mistreatment.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source

4. “Detainees in Syria face physical and sexual abuse, torture, starvation and extremely difficult living conditions. They are often crowded into small, dark cells and some are forced to live for months in solitary confinement rooms the size of a coffin. Sometimes detainees are left for days in a cell with dead bodies and develop serious psychological issues, as well as physical problems, as a result. Female detainees have been subjected to sexual and gender- based violence at a high rate. My husband often speaks to me about his own experience, which left him deeply traumatized. He was subjected to routine beatings. His cell was so tiny that he did not have space to sit down. It was very cold and damp. He and his cellmates were allowed to go to the restroom only once a day.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source

5. “Although it is an honour for me speak here, I cannot help but feel deep frustration at the people in the Chamber for their inaction to end the sorrow of Syrian detainees and their families. We are in the eighth year of the Syrian conflict and at least 100,000 people remain missing, many suffering abuses, deprivation and torture. Syrian families, mine included, need to know what has happened to their loved ones, and those responsible for our suffering need to be held accountable. The pain Syrian detainees have to endure has been well documented by colleagues in Syrian and international human rights organizations. Since 2011, I have personally met dozens of survivors of detention and torture and documented their stories, while providing psychological care.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source

6. “Dr. Hala: I thank you, Madam President, for inviting me and my colleague Ms. Amina Khoulani to speak here today. My name is Hala. I am a doctor and a co-founder of the Families for Freedom movement, which campaigns for freedom and justice for Syria's detainees. I left Syria at the end of 2011 after my husband was detained. He has since been released, but my brother and father-in-law, together with seven of my cousins, were detained in 2013 and remain missing. Many of my medical colleagues have also been detained by the Syrian Government for helping wounded protesters. Some ofthem have been killed while undergoing torture in detention. It is in memory of them and the hundreds of thousands of disappeared and murdered Syrians that I appear before the Security Council today.”

   2019-08-07 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8593 (2019) · source