The call comes ahead of a major conference to be held in Brussels on 4 and 5 April, at which European funding for the reconstruction will be discussed. The coalition called on European leaders to insist that not a single penny or cent for reconstruction will reach the Syrian government until:
· An inclusive political transition with credible guarantees is underway;
· the Assad government and its allies have ended all attacks on civilians and respects a ceasefire with the moderate opposition;
· there is an end to the sieges, with full and unhindered humanitarian access and passage for civilians;
· independent monitors are allowed unhindered access to places of detention;
· humanitarian and civil society organisations are effectively decriminalised and their necessary contribution to the future of Syria recognised.
“Without the credible promise of democracy, and an end to attacks on civilians, siege-warfare, torture and the criminalisation of civil society and humanitarian actors, there can be no transition worth the name in Syria. If European leaders neglect these conditions, they will be bankrolling continued war crimes and instability."
Recently, the UN estimated that more than 600,000 Syrians are denied access to humanitarian aid by siege warfare, while the Siege Watch project puts this number at more than 900,000. More than 90,000 are forcibly disappeared or detained in prisons in which torture is rife.
“Russia has said it wants Europe to fund the reconstruction of Syria. Russia has also at last recognised that there is a moderate opposition. That suggests that Europe has leverage which – if used wisely – could help to energise the peace talks, and to create momentum towards a genuine, inclusive political transition, followed by reconstruction."
The call comes six years after peaceful protestors first took to the streets in Syria to call for freedom and reform. Despite a nominal ceasefire, civilians are dying due to aerial and artillery bombardment every day. Humanitarian access has worsened since the ceasefire begun on 1 January.
“In Eastern Ghouta, where the regime is gradually cutting off the lifeline of 450,000 Syrians to the outside world, patients are already dying due to lack of medicine, food is becoming more expensive, and every day brings fresh casualties from conventional or chemical weapons. We fear that Eastern Ghouta will be the next of many more Aleppos yet to come – cut off, strangled, and bombarded while the world watches.”