Articles
Syria
Syrian human rights: history and culture Part 5
Ghassan Almufleh
19 August 2007
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” Article six of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this part we would like to start by discussing the legal documents held by Syrian citizens in order to identify themselves before the local and international law. I will start with the Identity Card. Anyone not carrying this card in any country in the world is nothing more than a lost number without trace or value – like a wild animal without an owner to be identified with. He loses all human value, like a victim of a death fatwa in Islam so that any Muslim can kill him without punishment. Even if a Muslim converts to Christianity no Muslim cleric would dare proclaim such a fatwa. Certainly, there is a difference between the sacred Islamic text that permits such a fatwa and its earthly practice. Even in Islamic history such decisions were always political rather than religious. Death Fatwa is a political act.
In Syria a Muslim cannot change his religion in the state legal system that is influenced by Islamic Chariaa so that the law does not recommend his death. This is part of the constitution. However, this is not our issue, and will be the subject of a section of its own. It is only to point out that those deprived of citizenship in Syria share the same human situation as those described above. Such a person who has no identity papers is like a wild animal looking for food outside of the normal channels, since he has no access to such channels nor to ministries nor to institutions… Even the private sector deals with these people in a forgiving manner rather than by breaking the Syrian law. Since their salaries are much lower than those holding an identity it is in the best interest of the private sector to hire them. These people are similar to those working in the black market therefore they have no rights, no responsibilities and are not identified as workers at all. The Baath still uses the same justification: these are foreigners! But, if we assume that they are foreigners, don’t they have the right to become citizens after four or six generations? But as the Syrian national anthem goes… the honorable refuse to be humiliated. It seems Kurdish people and those who are called foreigners will remain so until the Baathist judgment day comes! Is there such a phenomenon anywhere else in the world? This regime is based on the legitimacy of one ruling minority over the rest of the Syrian people with the force of the army. We sympathize with these citizens and organize local campaigns to solve their problem. But the regime delays the solution in order to keep the possibility of one day sending them as terrorists to neighboring countries, like it does with the Arab volunteers.
We apologize for the language with which this part was written but it reflects the reality of the Syrian regime. The only difference between those who have and those who do not have an identity in Syria is that between a known slave and an unknown one.
And known in this case refers to the non-written identity that the tyrannical regime uses for all the Syrian citizens so that their relation with each others is as follows:
I am Sunni, you are Druze, or I am from this tribe, and you are a shepherd! All our people are still shepherds.
Read Part 1-4 [external link]
