International powers, their institutions, international law.. Tools used when needed

The best that can be said about international institutions concerned with human rights and their protection is that their international law has walked the path of hope and suffering through various countries, until it reached North and East Syria, where it was crucified and buried under the rubble of regionally and internationally protected eyes. 

A complete international silence in North and East Syria.

 Despite the widespread presence of United Nations-affiliated organizations in various countries around the world, the United Nations has largely ignored the actions of the Turkish occupying state over many years in North and East Syria. As a result of the scale of these crimes, these organizations took on the role of news agencies and media outlets, contenting themselves with documenting only a small part of them.

 In October 2019, Amnesty International stated that the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries showed a disgraceful contempt for civilian lives, committing serious violations and war crimes, including deliberate killings and illegal attacks that killed and injured civilians, during the assault on northeastern Syria.

 In February 2024, Human Rights Watch stated in a report that Turkey bears responsibility for the serious violations and potential war crimes committed by its forces and the groups it supports in the territories occupied by Turkey in northern Syria.

 In February 2024, Human Rights Watch also issued a report titled: "Turkish Bombing Wreaks Havoc in Northeast Syria" and said: "While global attention remains focused on the devastating conflict in Gaza, another crisis is worsening out of sight in Northeast Syria." There, airstrikes and Turkish drone attacks on vital civilian infrastructure endanger livelihoods and cut local communities off from electricity, medical care, and other essential services.

 In September of last year, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic issued a report accusing Turkey of committing a series of widespread human rights violations in North and East Syria between January and June 2024.

 In addition, the crimes of the Turkish occupation have evolved, as chemical weapons have been used multiple times against the people of the North and East Syria region. In 2020, the Swiss-based Weibling Research Institute documented that the Turkish occupying state used white phosphorus in North and East Syria.

 Humanity is indivisible.

 The discussion and comparison between the actions of the United Nations and the international community regarding what is happening in other parts of the world and their actions in North and East Syria do not imply that their initial actions are subject to criticism. However, this duality indicates that these actions come as a result of political goals and interests, and thus these actions lose their humanitarian and legal value. All international charters and laws have spoken about the human being in its absolute sense, wherever they are and regardless of their religious, cultural, and ethnic background; as is commonly stated, at least rhetorically.

 This indicates that the actions taken by international powers and organizations through the use and protection of human rights in Ukraine aim to exert pressure on Russia rather than protect individuals in that country. Additionally, the mobilization of these institutions and international powers regarding the war in Gaza and Lebanon, along with the significant concern over the fate of dozens of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas, the strategies to combat anti-Semitism, especially in Europe, and the careful avoidance of provoking Israelis with slogans and other means, all stem from the major powers' efforts to use international law and human rights as a pressure tool on the parties to the conflict namely, Israel on one side and Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran on the other. The goal is to control the conflict, ensure its course aligns with these powers' interests, and keep the parties to the conflict committed to these powers' directives.

 International law provisions are ink on paper.

 The United Nations provisions state that countries undergoing a transitional phase, whether during or after conflicts, must receive assistance from the international community and the Security Council to overcome the phase.

 The term "war crime" is a much broader concept than "genocide" and "crime against humanity", and was defined by the Charter of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg in 1945 according to Article 6, as violations of the laws and customs of war, including: murder, ill-treatment or deportation as slave labor or for any other purpose of the civilian population in occupied territories, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons, killing of hostages, looting of public or private property, destruction of cities or villages, in addition to destruction not justified by military necessity. Despite this, Turkey committed all of these crimes, as it practiced a scorched earth policy, indiscriminate bombing, terrorizing and killing civilians with the aim of displacing them from their areas, in addition to the fact that the Turkish occupation forces and their mercenaries brutally killed a female fighter of the Syrian Democratic Forces in public and mutilated her body.

Also, Articles 3, 4, and 5 of the first article of the Chemical Weapons Convention stipulate the necessity of destroying chemical weapons and eliminating their damage, but the Turkish occupying state disregards this treaty and uses these weapons against civilians. Under customary international law, the use of biological weapons is prohibited. This agreement prohibits the development, production, possession, storage, retention, transfer, or use of chemical weapons by the states parties, which is violated by the Turkish occupying state as it has targeted North and East Syria and the Southern Kurdistan region multiple times with chemical weapons.

 International humanitarian law prohibits starving civilian populations as a method of warfare. The party imposing the siege should not deprive civilians of essential supplies for their survival (such as food, water, and medical supplies) in a besieged area, nor should it use this as a legitimate means to subjugate its enemy. However, international powers have overlooked these provisions and responded to Russian and Turkish demands, leading to the closure of crossings with North and East Syria to pressure the local population.

 T/ Satt.

 ANHA