HRW slams UAE for inviting Assad’s Syria to COP28
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed on May 18 the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for inviting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to COP28, the global United Nations climate conference, without holding him accountable for the crimes he committed during Syria’s war.
The HRW reported that the UAE seems to prepare to help al-Assad burnish his image, despite committing war crimes against his people, displacing millions, and weaponizing humanitarian aid and diverting it away from populations that oppose him.
In November 2011, eight months after pro-democracy protests began in Syria, the Arab League took the decision to suspend the government in Damascus over its brutal response. By 2023, nearly half a million people had been killed in the Syrian Civil War, mostly by the government and its allies.
Recently, a number of regional powers – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan among them – had long pushed for rapprochement with Damascus.
On May 7, Arab foreign ministers of the Arab League agreed on Syria’s official return to its seat in the Arab League after more than 10 years of suspension.
The HRW also stressed that Arab countries have rushed to normalize ties with Assad’s government “without demanding accountability for the grave abuses committed over the last 12 years.”
The organization slammed the use a conference meant to spur ambitious climate action for returning al-Assad to the international fold.
The HRW also implored the governments that will attend the COP28 to ensure “that serious crimes committed under Assad’s rule are investigated and prosecuted.”