GENEVA: United Nations investigators on Wednesday urged world leaders to do everything they could to avoid Ukraine becoming another Syria, a country “destroyed” by 11 years of conflict.
Russian forces have been involved in the Syrian civil war since 2015 and the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it hoped the disregard for civilian casualties would not be repeated in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Rather than winding down, the investigators said the war in Syria was heating up again and warned that its participants may take advantage of world attention turning away toward Ukraine.
Commission chair Paulo Pinheiro spoke of the millions of people displaced, the more than 100,000 people missing or forcibly disappeared, the poverty rate at an unprecedented 90 percent, human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
“We can only hope that world leaders are doing everything now that they can avoid a similar fate for Ukraine,” he told reporters.
Syrian and Russian forces “operating side by side have continued to indiscriminately bomb densely populated areas in the northwest,” he said.
“Civilians have also been attacked with sophisticated precision-guided weapons and airstrikes — including in strikes where Russian fixed-wing aircraft were identified flying over targeted areas.”
Pinheiro also said Russia and Syria were insisting on humanitarian aid being delivered from Damascus rather than across the border, but “their attacks in the northwest occur along the very road where such humanitarian aid would travel.”
He added: “We are seeing since 2015 similar practices by the Russian Federation in the conflict that we are seeing in another country today.”
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria was mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and record all violations of international law since March 2011 in the country.
Hanny Megally, one of the three commissioners, said Russian forces were in Syria to help the government, while they were in Ukraine “to remove it.”
Another difference, he said, was that the Russians were using more air power in Syria, rather than the large number of ground forces seen in Ukraine.
Citing indiscriminate attacks on civilians and targeted attacks on medical facilities, he said: “The disregard for civilian casualties is one of our biggest concerns in Syria and I would hope that’s not being repeated in Ukraine.”
The Commission of Inquiry’s latest report covers the second half of 2021.
Megally said regular fighting had increased over the last six to nine months, with increased shelling and aerial attacks by President Bashar Assad’s regime and his Russian allies.
“Our worry is that it’s not a war that’s coming to an end; it’s actually on the uptick again,” said Megally.
“It’s a country that’s been destroyed and can’t take much more of this, and we’re seeing it now plunging more into crisis wherever you look.
“If eyes are gazing elsewhere, then we may see actors on the ground take advantage of that.”
The commission will present its report to the Human Rights Council on March 18.
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Don’t let Ukraine become another Syria: UN investigators
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Don’t let Ukraine become another Syria: UN investigators
- Russian forces have been involved in the Syrian civil war since 2015
- The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it hoped the disregard for civilian casualties would not be repeated in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine
San Francisco parents scramble as teachers strike leaves 50,000 students out of school
- On Tuesday, the San Francisco Unified School District’s 120 schools remained closed for a second day
- About 6,000 teachers are striking over wages, health benefits, and resources for special needs students
SAN FRANCISCO: Connor Haught has been juggling virtual work meetings and arts and crafts projects for his two daughters as his family tries to navigate a teachers strike in San Francisco with no end date in sight.
Haught’s job in the construction industry allows him to work from home but, like many parents in the city, he and his wife were scrambling to plan activities for their children amid the uncertainty of a strike that has left nearly 50,000 students out of the classroom.
“The big concern for parents is really the timeline of it all and trying to prepare for how long this could go on,” Haught said.
The San Francisco Unified School District’s 120 schools were set to remain closed for a third day Wednesday, after about 6,000 public schoolteachers went on strike over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for students with special needs.
Some parents are taking advantage of after-school programs offering full-day programming during the strike, while others are relying on relatives and each other for help with child care.
Haught said he and his wife, who works evenings at a restaurant, planned to have their 8- and 9-year-old daughters at home the first week of the strike. They hope to organize play dates and local excursions with other families. They have not yet figured out what they will do if the strike goes on a second week.
“We didn’t try to jump on all the camps and things right away because they can be pricey, and we may be a little more fortunate with our schedule than some of the other people that are being impacted,” Haught said.
The United Educators of San Francisco and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers demanding fully funded family health care, salary raises and the filling of vacant positions impacting special education and services.
Teachers on the picket lines said they know the strike is hard on students but that they walked out to offer children stability in the future.
“This is for the betterment of our students. We believe our students deserve to learn safely in schools and that means having fully staffed schools. That means retaining teachers by offering them competitive wage packages and health care and it means to fully fund all of the programs we know the student need the most,” said Lily Perales, a history teacher at Mission High School.
Superintendent Maria Su said Tuesday there was some progress in the negotiations Monday, including support for homeless families, AI training for teachers and establishing best practices for the use of AI tools.
But the two sides have yet to agree on a wage increase and family health benefits. The union initially asked for a 9 percent raise over two years, which they said could help offset the cost of living in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the country. The district, which faces a $100 million deficit and is under state oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis, rejected the idea. Officials countered with a 6 percent wage increase paid over three years.
On Tuesday, Sonia Sanabria took her 5-year-old daughter and 11-year-old nephew to a church in the Mission District neighborhood that offered free lunch to children out of school.
Sanabria, who works as a cook at a restaurant, said she stayed home from work to take care of the children.
“If the strike continues, I’ll have to ask my job for a leave of absence, but it will affect me because if I don’t work, I don’t earn,” Sanabria said.
She said her elderly mother helps with school drop off and pick up but leaving the children with her all day is not an option. Sanabria said she has given them reading and writing assignments and worked with them on math problems. Sanabria said she is making plans for the children day-by-day and expressed support for the striking teachers.
“They are asking for better wages and better health insurance, and I think they deserve that because they teach our children, they take care of them and are helping them to have a better future,” she said, adding, “I just hope they reach agreement soon.”
Haught’s job in the construction industry allows him to work from home but, like many parents in the city, he and his wife were scrambling to plan activities for their children amid the uncertainty of a strike that has left nearly 50,000 students out of the classroom.
“The big concern for parents is really the timeline of it all and trying to prepare for how long this could go on,” Haught said.
The San Francisco Unified School District’s 120 schools were set to remain closed for a third day Wednesday, after about 6,000 public schoolteachers went on strike over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for students with special needs.
Some parents are taking advantage of after-school programs offering full-day programming during the strike, while others are relying on relatives and each other for help with child care.
Haught said he and his wife, who works evenings at a restaurant, planned to have their 8- and 9-year-old daughters at home the first week of the strike. They hope to organize play dates and local excursions with other families. They have not yet figured out what they will do if the strike goes on a second week.
“We didn’t try to jump on all the camps and things right away because they can be pricey, and we may be a little more fortunate with our schedule than some of the other people that are being impacted,” Haught said.
The United Educators of San Francisco and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers demanding fully funded family health care, salary raises and the filling of vacant positions impacting special education and services.
Teachers on the picket lines said they know the strike is hard on students but that they walked out to offer children stability in the future.
“This is for the betterment of our students. We believe our students deserve to learn safely in schools and that means having fully staffed schools. That means retaining teachers by offering them competitive wage packages and health care and it means to fully fund all of the programs we know the student need the most,” said Lily Perales, a history teacher at Mission High School.
Superintendent Maria Su said Tuesday there was some progress in the negotiations Monday, including support for homeless families, AI training for teachers and establishing best practices for the use of AI tools.
But the two sides have yet to agree on a wage increase and family health benefits. The union initially asked for a 9 percent raise over two years, which they said could help offset the cost of living in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the country. The district, which faces a $100 million deficit and is under state oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis, rejected the idea. Officials countered with a 6 percent wage increase paid over three years.
On Tuesday, Sonia Sanabria took her 5-year-old daughter and 11-year-old nephew to a church in the Mission District neighborhood that offered free lunch to children out of school.
Sanabria, who works as a cook at a restaurant, said she stayed home from work to take care of the children.
“If the strike continues, I’ll have to ask my job for a leave of absence, but it will affect me because if I don’t work, I don’t earn,” Sanabria said.
She said her elderly mother helps with school drop off and pick up but leaving the children with her all day is not an option. Sanabria said she has given them reading and writing assignments and worked with them on math problems. Sanabria said she is making plans for the children day-by-day and expressed support for the striking teachers.
“They are asking for better wages and better health insurance, and I think they deserve that because they teach our children, they take care of them and are helping them to have a better future,” she said, adding, “I just hope they reach agreement soon.”
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