Committee of Serê Kaniyê IDPs rejects Ras al-Ain elections as illegal

In a statement issued on Thursday to public opinion, the Committee addressed the so-called “People’s Assembly elections” being conducted by the Syrian transitional government in the Turkish-occupied cities of Serê Kaniyê and Girê Spî, both of which witnessed the forced displacement of their populations through military action and the resettlement of others in their homes.

The committee said: “From our national and humanitarian responsibility, and on behalf of thousands of forcibly displaced people from the city of Serê Kaniyê/Ras al-Ain since the occupation in 2019, we, the Committee of Serê Kaniyê Displaced Persons, declare our categorical rejection of the so-called elections being held in the city under the authority of de facto control. We affirm that these elections lack any legal legitimacy and are null and void from moral and legal standpoints, as they in no way represent the will of the city’s original inhabitants.”

The statement stressed that “these elections are taking place amid a systematic demographic change and the continued deprivation of tens of thousands of Serê Kaniyê residents from their natural right to return to their homes and lands, and to live their civil and political lives freely and safely.”

According to documented information, the statement noted that “no less than 85% of the city’s original population currently live displaced across different parts of North and East Syria, deprived of their right to return. This renders the elections unfair and unequal, as they exclude the vast majority of the city’s true inhabitants from participating in determining their political and administrative destiny.”

Accordingly, the committee added: “Any electoral process conducted under conditions of occupation and forced displacement constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and a clear breach of international treaties and conventions, foremost among them:

• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 25), which guarantees citizens the right to freely participate in the conduct of public affairs.

• The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits the occupying power from enacting demographic or political changes in occupied territories.

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 21), which stipulates that the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.”

The statement further emphasized that “the only just and viable solution to the Serê Kaniyê issue begins with the implementation of the March 10 Agreement concerning the return of the displaced, ensuring their safety and restoring their property — paving the way for a secure and neutral environment that enables free and fair elections with the participation of all residents of the city without exception or discrimination.”

The committee affirmed that “any procedures or outcomes resulting from these elections will not represent the true will of the people of Serekaniye and will remain legally and morally void unless the displaced are fully enabled to return to their homes and exercise their political rights in their homeland, not in exile or displacement camps.”

In conclusion, the Committee called on “the United Nations, international organizations, and human rights bodies to assume their legal and humanitarian responsibilities in stopping these unlawful practices and ensuring the implementation of international agreements related to the return of the displaced, as this is the essential entry point for any just and sustainable political solution in the region.”

A-H 

ANHA