PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute recently released the report, No Choice: Attacks on Health as a Driver of Forced Displacement in Syria. This document details how the Syrian government and its allies have conducted mass attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel since the start of the Syrian conflict, causing healthcare systems to fail, and making it impossible for civilians to access necessary medical care. These acts of aggression have become either part of or the entire reason why Syrians flee their homes and country. With the government’s attacks playing such a crucial factor, approximately 6.7 million people have been internally displaced, and 6.6 million others have crossed international borders, making this a crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population.
Georgetown University Law Center (GULC) recognized the significance of the work from civil society and nongovernmental organizations such as SETF that continue to call attention to the unending issues at the local, national, and international level. Throughout the creation of this report, members of the SETF staff and advisory board aided GULC by facilitating a multitude of interviews, and were specifically acknowledged:
“Additionally, we would like to thank the experts and practitioners who provided us with advice as we shaped our mission. We would like to give special thanks to Ambassador Stephen Rapp, Dr. Zaher Sahloul, Mouaz Moustafa, and Omar Alshogre, whose guidance shaped the mission planning and legal analysis.”
As a decade has passed since the Syrian conflict started, and Assad continues to inflict treacherous attacks and abuse civilians, SETF also continues to fight to end these atrocities. We thank GULC for this important resource highlighting how attacks against medical facilities have contributed to displacement in a way that will help us provide and advance legal arguments in pursuit of accountability.
Press Contact:
Celeste Brevard
Director of Communications Syrian Emergency Task Force
[email protected]