Originally published on the CGS blog on January 31, 2012.
“No chance, no chance, no chance…ever,” said Vitaly I. Churkin, Russian envoy to the United Nations Security Council, in response to whether or not Russia would ever support economic sanctions in Syria.
Today the Arab League will be sending a delegation to the U.N. Security Council to advocate a political transition in Syria. The Arab-European draft resolution will push for President Bashar al-Assad to step down within 15 days of implementation. Morocco will introduce the draft resolution, which also calls for sanctions on Syria, hoping it will push for compliance from the regime. The Obama administration, as well as most European governments, has expressed support for this plan. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she will attend the U.N. Security Council meeting today, as she condemns the escalation of Syrian government attacks on its civilians. Yet Russia is expected to stand in the way of its implementation, promising to veto any resolution that strives to remove Assad’s regime.
This comes as no surprise after Russia’s actions last fall when it, along with China, irresponsibly used their veto power to defeat a U.N. resolution that condemned Syria for its violence against anti-government protesters. Susan Rice, U.S. envoy to the U.N. Security Council, said Russia’s opposition to the resolution was a “cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.” Such inaction from the international community upset and angered Syrian civilians.
Britain’s U.N. envoy, Mark Lyall Grant, told the Security Council, “It is glaringly obvious that transferring weapons into a volatile and violent situation is irresponsible and will only fuel the bloodshed,” which added pressure on Russia to comply with the international community. It is no question that Russia’s relationship with President Bashar al-Assad poses problems for the U.N. Security Council, as Russia continues to provide arms to Syria, which is also where a Russian naval base is located.
Since protesters took to the streets earlier last year, there has been an estimated 5,400 civilian deaths. As Al Jazeera reports, a senior Russian diplomat stated that a push in favor of the Western-Arab draft resolution would be a “path to civil war.” Yet as the Syrian government continues to slaughter its own civilians, it is arguable that civil war will be inevitable if the international community’s inaction continues.
Arab and Western nations are uniting for a diplomatic push to end Russia’s political and financial support for Syria. A vote on the Arab-European draft resolution could come by the end of the week. The concern over Russia and China’s veto power (as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council) appears to be the only threat to this draft plan, as French diplomats are claiming the resolution has a majority of votes in the United Nations Security Council.
This can be a moment for the international community to put aside their own political and economic interests and stand up to those who are in need of help. What began as a non-violent movement for democracy has spiraled into a blatant violation of human rights and a nation on the brink of civil war. When the international community sees an oppressive regime slaughtering its own citizens, it is its duty-under the Responsibility to Protect-to step in and halt the killing. What the U.N. Security Council decides this week will either send a strong message to repressive regimes that their human rights violations will not stand in the international community, or yet again declare that politics will prevail.
