About This Report
Group Denial
November 26, 2009

VII. Recommendations

To the Government of Syria

With respect to legal reform

  • Amend or abolish the vague security provisions under the Syrian penal code that permit the authorities to arbitrarily suppress and punish individuals for peaceful political expression, in breach of Syria’s international legal obligations, including the following provisions:
    • Article 267 (undertaking “acts, speech, writings or other means to cut off part of Syrian land to join it to another country”);
    • Article 285 (“issuing calls that weaken national sentiment or awaken racial or sectarian tensions while Syria is at war or is expecting a war”);
    • Article 288 (joining a “political or social organization or an international group without the permission of the government”);
    • Article 307 (undertaking “acts, writings or speech that incite sectarian, racial or religious strife”).
    • Article 308 (membership in an organization that was created to “incite sectarian, racial or religious strife”);
  • Amend penal code provisions that blur the line between legitimate public protest and rioting, including the following provisions that define rioting too broadly, and issue regulations that indicate the elements of proof required to prove a “rioting” charge:
    • Article 335 (attending “a meeting that is not of a private nature ... where an individual issues calls for rioting or displays signs that perturb the general safety, or undertakes any form of rioting”);
    • Article 336 (“any gathering or convoy in a public space is considering rioting if ... (b) there are at least seven people gathered to protest a decision or measure taken by the public authorities or (c) if they are more than 20 people and they appear in a way that can threaten general quiet.”)
  • Amend the constitution to insert a provision that Syria recognizes all minorities in its territory and their right to practice their language, religion, and culture freely and without discrimination, in public and in private.
  • Cease trials of civilians by military courts. It should be the regular criminal courts that look into cases where there is evidence that a civilian has committed a recognizable criminal offense.

With respect to political reforms

  • Enact a political parties law in compliance with international human rights norms, and establish an independent electoral commission to register new political parties. This body should be politically neutral and wholly independent of the government and the Ba`ath party.
  • Lift the state of emergency, repeal the Emergency Law, and allow groups to hold peaceful demonstrations.

With respect to arbitrary arrests and treatment of detainees

  • Release all individuals currently deprived of their liberty for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, association, or assembly.
  • Order the security services to stop (i) the arbitrary arrest of individuals, (ii) the practice of incommunicado detention, and (iii) the ill-treatment and torture of detainees under interrogation.
  • Create mechanisms and guidelines to ensure access for lawyers and family members to detainees promptly after arrest.
  • Investigate officials alleged to have tortured or mistreated detainees and make public the results of the investigation. Discipline or prosecute, as appropriate, officials responsible for the mistreatment of detainees, including those who gave orders, or were otherwise complicit, and make public the results of the punishment.
  • Ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture (OPCAT), and invite the Sub-Committee of the OPCAT to visit and inspect Syria’s places of detention.

With respect to Kurdish rights

  • Set up a commission tasked with addressing underlying grievances of the Kurdish minority in Syria, and make public the results of its findings and recommendations. The commission should include members of Syria’s Kurdish political parties. The commission should explore ways to:
    • Redress the status of all Kurds who were born in Syria but are stateless, by offering citizenship to any person with strong ties to Syria by reason of birth, marriage, or long residence in the country and who is not otherwise entitled to citizenship in another country;
    • Identify and remove discriminatory laws and policies on Kurds, including reviewing all government decrees and directives that apply uniquely to the Kurdish minority in Syria, or have a disproportionate impact on them, in particular the recent Decree No. 49;
    • Ensure that Syria’s Kurds have the right to enjoy their own culture and use their own language, and the right to freedom of expression, including the right to celebrate cultural holidays, and learn Kurdish in schools;
    • Engage in a profound dialogue with Kurdish political parties with respect to their demands for effective political participation in Syrian political life.
  • Extend an invitation to the UN independent expert on minority issues to visit Syria.

To the International Community

The improved relationship between the United States, the European Union, and many EU member states on the one hand, and the Syrian government on the other, presents an important opportunity for a more assertive and vocal international role in addressing ongoing human rights violations in Syria. We urge the international community to take up the recommendations in this report and raise these items in discussions with senior Syrian government officials, including with President Bashar al-Asad.