YouSaid · the spoken record

Khoulani

lines on the record
7
first
2019-08-07
most recent
2019-08-07
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “The crimes of arbitrary detention and forced disappearance have plagued my country for decades, and they have become epidemic in the last eight years. They are a horror that have impacted the lives of millions of people, shattering them forever. The first step towards sustainable peace and justice is truth, an end to arbitrary detention and forced disappearance and the release of the thousands of civilians arbitrarily detained and denied their freedom.”

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

  2. “Today, I therefore ask the members of the Council, for the Syrian families who have lost their loved ones, to make the issue of detention and forced disappearance in Syria a priority, to adopt a new resolution to pressure not just the Syrian regime but armed opposition groups as well for the names and whereabouts of all those in detention and to allow humanitarian organizations to visit the detention centres, especially the military prison Sednaya. We further call on it to urge the Global Coalition to Defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) and the Syrian Democratic Forces to uncover the fate of the disappeared by ISIS and give answers to their relatives, so that those of us whose loved ones have been executed or tortured to death can know the location of their burial sites so that we can grieve them properly.”

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

  3. “In spite of those efforts, disappearances have continued to take place to this very day, including to persons who tried to return to Syria. The Security Council has utterly failed Syrian detainees and their families. It is its responsibility to protect Syrians from a system that kills, tortures and illegally detains its own citizens, in systematic violation of international law, as concluded by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and other relevant bodies. The Council has let vetoes and excuses get in the way ofwhat is right and just. It bears the responsibility of finding a way to end impunity and stop that horror.”

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

  4. “The majority are detained by the Syrian regime, but armed opposition groups and extremist groups, such as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham, are also guilty of detention and disappearance. The people detained may be sick, injured or dying. Many endure barbaric torture on a daily basis. Some may be scheduled for execution. Hardly any of them will have had a fair trial. The Council can save their lives if it chooses to act today. As I speak here today, the cases of detention, forced disappearance and torture in Syria are on the rise. I am not telling Council members anything new. They will no doubt have seen Caesar's photos and read the reports issued by Syrian international organizations with regard to the crisis of forced disappearance in Syria and the brutal practice of torture.”

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

  5. “My husband was detained for two and a half years. We were both lucky to survive, but many others were not as lucky. Today I am one of the founders of Families for Freedom - a women-led movement launched in 2017 by families whose loved ones have been detained and disappeared. The women in our group come from diverse backgrounds, but we are united in one mission - to demand an end to the crime of arbitrary detention and forced disappearance, demand justice for the disappeared and their families and ensure that those responsible for their suffering are held accountable. As I address the Council today, approximately 100,000 Syrian men, women and children remain missing.”

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

  6. “His wife was pregnant at the time that he disappeared. He never got the chance to see his son, and his son will never have the chance to know his father. In July last year, the Syrian regime began releasing death notices for people who died in its jails. Four years on from learning of Mouhamad's death, I learned that my other two brothers, Majd and Abdulsattar, had also been killed in detention. I do not have enough words to describe how it felt. Hope was wrenched from me yet again. I could not stop imagining how they might have endured before leaving this world. According to the death notice we received from the regime, they were both sentenced to death on the same day, at the same minute, on 15 January 2013. I myselfwas imprisoned for six months, after being arrested by the Air Force Intelligence branch for my peaceful activism.”

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

  7. “I thank you, Madam President, for inviting me to speak here today. My name is Amina Khoulani and my story is one shared by hundreds of thousands of Syrian families who have endured the pain of having their loved ones snatched from them and disappeared in brutal underground dungeons. Eight years ago, three of my brothers were taken by the Syrian regime. Their only crime was peacefully protesting for a free and democratic Syria - a vision shared by millions across the country. For years, my family and I hoped that my brothers would one day be released but, sadly, that was not to be. When photos of murdered, tortured detainees were leaked by the military defector Caesar, the first image I saw was of my brother Mouhamad's body. Mouhamad was not only my brother, but my best friend and the person closest to my heart.”

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