United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s address on the crisis in Syria, delivered at the Asia Society in New York, June 20, 2014.
[Opening comments]
I am here to highlight the worsening of the already horrifying situation and tragedy which is happening in Syria, which continues to bleed beyond its borders.
I am here to express my anger and disappointment at the cold calculation that seems to be taking hold – that little can be done except to arm the parties and watch the conflict rage.
The international community must not abandon the people of Syria and the region to never-ending waves of cruelty and crisis.
We must act. All the values for which we stand, and all the reasons for which the United Nations exists, are at stake, here and now, across the devastated landscape that is Syria today.
Let me start by recognizing the full scale of the catastrophe which is happening now in Syria and in the region.
The death toll may be well over 150,000. Since June last year, when the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, announced around 100,000 deaths, then the United Nations has not been issuing any further statistics of death tolls. It is impossible and very sad and tragic to count all these dead bodies. At least 200, 300 or several hundred people are dying every day. Half the country’s population of 22 million has been displaced. Nearly 3 million people have been accommodated by the neighboring countries – Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey and Egypt and in North Africa. As of yesterday, June 19th, the number of refugees registered by UNHCR stands at 2.97 million – it’s almost 3 million.
Prisons and makeshift detention facilities are swelling with men, women and even children. Deaths by summary executions and unspeakable torture are widespread every day. People are dying from hunger and from once-rare infectious diseases. Whole urban centers and some of humankind’s great architectural and cultural heritage lie in ruins. Destruction and death are everywhere.
It did not have to be this way. Everybody agrees. But why does this situation continue this way? In 2011, when some thousands of Syrian civilians went to the streets peacefully and filled the squares of Dara and elsewhere in Syria, they were not calling for regime change. They were calling “Hurriya” “freedom” and they were not staging any revolution. They just wanted reforms after many decades of dictatorial and authoritarian regimes.
The response of the authorities was merciless: snipers and tanks firing indiscriminately into the crowds. Appeals to President Assad from the people and from the region fell on deaf ears. As popular demands escalated, the Government’s reaction turned even more ferocious. Civilians took up arms – only at that time. Syrians turned against each other. Regional powers became involved. Radical groups gained a foothold. Syria today is increasingly a failed state.
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