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Syria

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Last reviewed: 23 March 2009

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POLITICS


Recent Political Developments

Dr Bashar al-Assad was groomed for the Presidency since 1994 following the death of his elder brother Basil, when he was recalled from London where he had been studying ophthalmology to begin military training. Bashar al-Assad was formally inaugurated as President on 17 July 2000 following a referendum which confirmed him as President elect with over 97% support. Since his succession, Bashar has reiterated his desire for Syrian modernisation. He has stated that he is committed to fulfilling his father's legacy by achieving peace with Israel, but since the start of the second Intifada in October 2000 prospects for achieving this have dwindled and tensions have increased with Israel. He has implemented some tentative steps towards economic and social reform, but progress is slow. There were some early indications of political reform: political discussion groups, for example, were allowed to meet. But there has since been a stifling of this progress, for example freedom of expression and association is limited. The human rights situation has further deteriorated over the last year (see below).

On 27 May 2007, after a month long referendum campaign, President Assad was re-elected for his second seven-year term. According to official statistics 95.86% of the electorate voted, 97.62% voted "yes", 1.71 voted "no" and there were .67 % spoiled ballots.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Although there was an initial improvement under President Bashar al-Assad, the human rights situation has deteriorated significantly over the past year and we have a number of concerns about Syria’s human rights performance.. Local human rights groups have no legal existence in Syria. A few are tolerated, but they operate in a grey zone. However, over the past few months there has been a marked downturn with harsh sentencing for some Human Rights Defenders in mid-2007 and the recent arrest of members of the National Council for the Damascus Declaration,. Amnesty International was allowed to visit Syria in January 2006, the first time since 1997.

Syria has an embryonic civil society. The Security Services coordinate with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to issue licences for the formation of non-governmental organisations. There are now several hundred non-governmental organisations in Syria mainly focussed on development, environment and women and children’s rights. The Head of the State Planning Commission said that the tenth five-year-plan (2006-2010) would assign a more considerable role to civil societies.. However, many non-governmental organisations have an important regime figure spouse or relative as their patron. More politicisednon-governmental organisations have so far failed to obtain a license. Therefore these often operate illegally and the activists subject to arrest and trial in the various security courts.

There are 1-1.5 million Kurds in Syria, making them the largest ethnic minority group in the country. Approximately 250,000 of them not entitled to Syrian nationality and have no civil and political rights. The Tenth Baath Party Congress recommended that this issue be tackled, but this has not progressed far. Decree (Decree 49) passed by President Assad in late 2008, has restricted the buying, selling and transfer of property by Kurds. Resident Palestinians in Syria are prevented from voting and restrictions are also placed on their right to own property.

Religious freedom is provided for by the constitution. Formally recognised religious minorities are generally well respected and have full freedom to practise their faith.

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Contacts

Syria

Address:

8 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8PH

Telephone:

(020) 7245 9012

Fax:

(020) 7235 4621

Office hours:

Mon-Fri: 0930-1530

Website: http://syremb.com