Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
The six laureates of the Nobel Women’s Initiative have called on the United States and its allies to use nonviolent measures available to resolve the conflict in Syria—rather than a military strike.
In a statement released today, the laureates call on the United Nations Security Council to refer the case of Syria’s use of chemical weapons to the International Criminal Court and convene the Syria Peace Conference, known as Geneva II. “We hope that US legislators, like their British counterparts, will recognize that there is no public appetite to resolve this problem through more bombs and more violence,” said Jody Williams who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.
The call by the Nobel Women’s Initiative comes on the eve of the G20 meeting in Russia where the discussion will largely focus on addressing the Syria conflict, as well as ongoing testimony in the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on potential use of military force in Syria ahead of a vote in Congress next week.
Read the full statement by the Nobel Women’s Initiative below and take action to call for a nonviolent solution to the war in Syria.
Read the press release online.
Download the statement in Arabic.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative Calls for
The Nonviolent Resolution of the Crisis over Chemical Weapons Use in Syria: No Military Intervention
The use of chemical weapons in Syria is a crime that cannot be ignored but bombing Syria is not the answer. Military intervention in Syria can only lead to more death and destruction, and further fuel the volatile situation in the region.
We applaud the vote of the UK’s Parliament against endorsing British involvement in attacks on Syria, and call upon the United States to step back from the brink of attacking yet another country in the Middle East/North Africa region. Such a move can only result in more hatred, more violence and more retaliation.
We call upon the UN Security Council to accept its responsibility to act in response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria instead of the ongoing posturing of its members based on their own self-interest instead of concern about the people of Syria.
We urge the Security Council to ensure the nonviolent resolution of this crisis within the ongoing crisis of the civil war in Syria. We call upon the Security Council to refer the matter to the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
We also call on the International Community to urgently convene the Syria Peace Conference, known as Geneva II, and to ensure women meaningfully participate.
The use of chemical weapons is a war crime that should be addressed by the international legal system created precisely for such events. More bombs, more violence, more war will only undercut the ICC and further weaken international humanitarian law.
We call for justice through the Court not through cruise missiles.
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Laureate (1976) — Ireland
Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate (1992) — Guatemala
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate (1997) — USA
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate (2003) — Iran
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate (2011) — Liberia
Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate (2011) – Yemen
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