The Press Release of the Symposium “The Regime and its Allies’ Effort to Demographically Change Syrian Society and Means of Confronting it”
With the regime and its allies’ continued forced displacement of the regions formerly controlled by revolutionary and opposition forces, discussion has increased over the regime’s intent to bring about demographic change in these regions by replacing their indigenous population who migrated with residents loyal to the regime. This has been accompanied by actual indicators on the ground demonstrating the regime’s intentions beginning with Law No. 10. There have also been rumors about the naturalization of mercenaries brought by the regime and its ally Iran from several nations, such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, in addition to their efforts exerted at the education, social and cultural levels to find groups intellectually and ideologically close to the regime.
If in International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law an attempt to change people’s minds in exceptional circumstances (already in these circumstances people in fact to strengthen their value system) is a crime in itself, then evacuating the population and forcing them to migrate from their homes in preparation to replace them with new residents, as is the situation in Syria, would be a “war crime” in accordance with international customs and law.
In order to bring to light the regime’s effort, accompanying cultural and intellectual efforts, to enact demographic change in Syrian society and the possibility of its success or failure, and its attempt to explore the mechanisms of these efforts, the Syrian Dialogue Center held a seminar with the title of “The Regime and its Allies’ Effort to Demographically Change Syrian Society and Ways of Confronting it” in Istanbul on Thursday, 5 Dhul-Hijjah 1439/16 August 2018.
The seminar was attended by a number of lawyers, politicians and actors from the revolutionary and opposition forces in addition to the participation of some researchers. The two main speakers of the seminar were Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Haj, a university professor and researcher, and Dr. Hasim As-Saad, professor of Sociology, previously in the University of Damascus and the University of Aleppo, and currently the director of the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies. Both speakers discussed the subject of demographic change in the Syrian society from its cultural, social and political aspects. In the conclusion, they discussed means of confronting this demographic change in Syrian society through media, legal and political means.
مؤسسة بحثية سورية تسعى إلى الإسهام في بناء الرؤى والمعارف بما يساعد السوريين على إنضاج حلول عملية لمواجهة التحديات الوطنية المشتركة وتحقيق التنمية المستدامة
