A statement was made by an SHRC spokesman about the oppression inflicted upon the peaceful demonstration of the Kurdish children and organisers in front of the UNICEF office in the Syrian capital, Damascus on 25th of June this year. He said that it is the right of the Kurdish children and the right of their parents to express their opinions peacefully and to demand their natural and legal rights in exercising their cultural norms. The intervention of the Security Forces to forcefully break up the demonstration will not solve the outstanding problems that have been going on for decades; on the contrary, this will complicate it and would plant further adversary feelings because of the continuous suppression by the Syrian authorities who have been denying the Kurdish people rights in their culture and their rights in exercising it.

The spokesman added that the children and the participant’s exposure to the oppression which left several casualties is clear proof about the methodology by which the Syrian security forces are prepared to deal with all those who would like to express their opinions peacefully. They do not distinguish between children, adults and elderly people when using force and maltreatment.

The spokesman was not surprised about the arresting of Suriya Mohamed Mostafa, Khalid Ahmad Ali, Sharif Ramadan, Omar Mourad, Salar Saleh, Huzan Mohammad Ameen and Hussein Ramadan because arresting civilians is a system and policy regularly practiced by the Syrian authorities. It is used to silence and oppress the opposition on one hand, and on the other to scare the silent majority which happens so often due to the blockage of the democratic situation, whilst repressing and depriving citizens of their simplest natural rights are very common.

The spokesman called on the Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad to intervene , to stop the accumulating deterioration and to put an end to the practises of the security authorities, which has caused all sections of the Syrian people enough mischief.

The spokesman appeals to all Syrian citizens and supporters of human rights to show their sympathy with the Kurdish demonstrators on the occasion of the World Child Day and to show solidarity with the Syrian people to demand their human and democratic rights in their homeland.

Finally the spokesman stressed that the seven detainees should be released promptly, especially as there is not genuine reason for their arrest.