YouSaid · the spoken record

Wafa Mustafa

lines on the record
8
first
2020-07-23
most recent
2020-07-23
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. “Right now, broken-hearted families are searching for their loved ones in photos of tortured bodies. I frequently receive messages from families of detainees, sometimes dozens a day. They have not given up on demanding answers about their loved ones. I wonder how many members of the Security Council can also say they have not given up on their responsibility to protect civilians, defend human rights and see justice done.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  2. “I reiterate that we, as families of detainees, do not accept prisoner exchanges arranged between military sides as a substitute for a comprehensive solution to the crime of unlawful detention and enforced disappearance in Syria. Our loved ones have been unjustly snatched from us and must be given their freedom; it is their right and ours. We welcome the trials in Germany of individuals charged with State- sponsored torture under the principle of universal jurisdiction. We encourage other countries to follow Germany’s lead in pursuing justice. However, our real hope is to see perpetrators come before the International Criminal Court. Our plight is urgent. Young women and men are being arrested at this very moment, and loved ones are at risk of contracting COVID-19 today.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  3. “At the very least, international medical and humanitarian organizations must be allowed regular unconditional access to detention facilities, especially considering the recent escalation of COVID-19 infections in Syria and the lack of transparency from the Syrian regime about the real scale of the outbreak. The Council must put pressure on Syrian authorities and other actors to immediately release the names of people held in all places of detention, as well as their locations and situations. Torture and mistreatment must immediately cease, and detainees must be allowed routine contact with their families. In the cases of where detainees have died, families must be informed of the causes and given access to burial sites.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  4. “But all these issues are connected and the Council can and must address them all at once.S/2020/743 I speak to the Council today with the added urgency of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. I ask for unified support behind the large-scale unilateral release of all people held in prisons and unofficial detention centres, where detainees are held in cramped conditions and exposed to torture and deprivation of proper food, water, sanitation and medical care. These centres are breeding grounds for illnesses and viruses. How will our loved ones survive a COVID-19 outbreak under these conditions?”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  5. “We are a movement of women whose family members have been unlawfully detained or forcibly disappeared by the Syrian state, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Shams, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and other armed actors. Since our formation, we have taken to the streets and knocked on every door we can, demanding serious action for Syria’s disappeared, for Syria’s future. As families of detainees we are deeply frustrated by the collective inaction and abdication of responsibility by the Security Council to address this crime against humanity. My colleagues have shared our stories and demands with the Council, but to date no progress has been made. We hear excuses about the need to prioritize other humanitarian or political issues in Syria, that now is not the time to focus on detainees.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  6. “To have a loved one who is detained or disappeared and not know their fate is like waking up one day and realizing you have lost a limb. It is a growing pain, a pain unlike any other. Even though there is barely anything to hold on to, what keeps me going is living by what my father taught me and the hope that one day he will be free and reunited with us. I myself was detained in Damascus in September 2011. As I address the Council today, I am reminded of the young women I left behind in prison. I wonder if they ever saw freedom again, if they ever got the chance to pursue their dreams, if they ever dared to become mothers in a country where so many mothers are looking for their missing sons and daughters. I joined Families for Freedom two years ago.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  7. “In my exile, I met many Syrians who, like me, are counting the days since they last saw their missing loved ones, and I came to understand the massive scale of this horrific crime. As the Council is aware, more than 130,000 people are believed to be detained and forcibly disappeared. Those numbers continue to rise as the Syrian regime and other groups continue to use detention as a weapon to terrorize civilians in a systematic violation of international law. That was the conclusion of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. The Council will have heard from my colleagues and seen reports about the horrors inside detention centres. They start with humiliation and violation of human dignity, continue with frequent torture and often end with death for countless detainees.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source

  8. “I am grateful for this opportunity to address the Council. My name is Wafa Ali Mustafa. I am a Syrian journalist, activist and member of Families for Freedom, a movement that campaigns for freedom and justice for Syria’s detainees. Two thousand, five hundred and seventy-nine days ago, my father was arrested and forcibly disappeared by the Syrian regime. My father is a human rights defender who protested against injustice and oppression in our country. We have not seen him or heard from him since his disappearance in July 2013. We have never been told why he was taken from us or where he is being held. After my father’s disappearance, we had to flee the country, fearing for our own safety. Today, my mother, two sisters, and I are scattered around the world.”

    2020-07-23 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/743 (2020) · source