WASHINGTON - The
Friends of the Syrian People International Working Group on Sanctions, “the
Group,” held its second meeting in Washington, DC on June 6, 2012. The
Group last met in Paris on April 17, a meeting which was the result of the
decisions taken during the conferences of the Friends of the Syrian People in
Istanbul on April 1st and in Tunis on February 24th. Qatar, Turkey, and
the United States co-chaired this second meeting. The U.S. Department of
the Treasury hosted the event. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner delivered opening remarks.
Approximately 60 countries participated in the event.
The Group reaffirmed its support
for an immediate end to the violence against the Syrian people and called on
all members of the international community to demonstrate solidarity with the
Syrian people by implementing and enforcing measures to increase pressure on
the Assad regime to fully comply with its obligations in accordance with UN and
Arab League Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan’s Six Point plan and UNSCRs 2042 and
2043. The Group also reaffirmed its support for the imposition of the
sanctions outlined in the Group’s statement from its Paris meeting and the Friends
of the Syrian People’s statement issued following its meeting in Tunis on
February 24.
The Group identified the Assad
regime’s ongoing brutality as the greatest threat to the well-being of the
Syrian people and emphasized that sanctions do not target the civilian
population of Syria but aim at increasing pressure on the persons and
institutions responsible for the Syrian regime’s brutal repression, as well as
at depriving the regime of the resources it uses for this repression.
The Group expressed deep
dissatisfaction with the Assad regime’s failure to abide by its commitments
under the Annan Plan thus far and grave concern over the growing threat to
regional stability. There was substantial agreement that further measures
will be necessary in light of the continued violence by the Assad regime and
the continued denial of the democratic aspirations of the Syrian
people. In this regard, the Group expressed support for taking
steps toward a United Nations Security Council Chapter VII resolution, as
called for last week by the Arab League, that would include the imposition of
sanctions by member states on the Assad regime, including asset freezes, travel
bans, an arms embargo and other measures.
The Group recognized the steps that
participating states have taken thus far and called on all member countries to
fully implement and enforce existing sanctions in order to bring about maximum
pressure on the Syrian regime. The Group recognized that measures taken
by the Friends of the Syrian People are imposing significant strain on the
Assad regime but that a continued concerted multinational approach is necessary
to further deprive the Assad regime of the financial resources needed to
sustain its campaign of violent repression.
The Group called upon all states to
take steps to harmonize national and regional sanctions regimes by imposing, at
a minimum, an asset freeze on senior Syrian regime officials as well as an
asset freeze on and restriction of transactions with the Central Bank of Syria
and the Commercial Bank of Syria to ensure their isolation from the
international financial system. The Group also called upon all states to
adopt an embargo on Syrian petroleum products and a ban on the provision of
insurance and reinsurance for shipments of Syrian petroleum
products. The Group also called on all states to adopt a formal ban
on the shipment of arms to the Syrian regime and the provision of insurance and
reinsurance for third-country arms shipments to the Syrian regime.
The Group called on all states to
issue guidance to their domestic financial institutions regarding the risks
associated with doing business with Syria and to require these financial
institutions to exercise enhanced due diligence on all transactions involving
Syria in order to protect against the Syrian regime’s efforts to deploy
deceptive financial practices aimed at evading international sanctions.
The Group called upon those Syrian
business leaders and others who continue to support the Assad regime to
withdraw their support or face further isolation from the international
community.
The Group deplored those states
that are undermining the Annan Plan’s chances for success by providing
financial, diplomatic, or material support to the Assad regime, and called on
them to cease immediately the provision of any support which aids in the
violent repression of the legitimate democratic aspirations of the Syrian
people.
The Group affirmed that once the
democratic transition is started, the Group is committed to bringing about a
swift review of the sanctions regimes in place in order to support the
reconstruction of the future Syria in coordination with the Friends of the
Syrian People Working Group on Economic Reconstruction and Development.
In line with its mandate from the
member states of the Friends of the Syrian People, the Group reaffirmed its
commitment and resolve to act collectively in order to increase, strengthen and
enforce restrictions and sanctions on the Syrian regime and its supporters and
to act with determination to achieve greater effectiveness in the enforcement
of the restrictive measures put in place by states and international
organizations.
The Group reaffirmed its strong
commitment to continued information sharing on measures taken to increase the
pressure on the Assad regime.
The International Working Group on
Sanctions will hold its next meeting in Doha, Qatar in July 2012.
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