Representatives of the Northern and Eastern Syria Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan Initiative and the Lawyers’ Union met with officials of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. During the meeting, a dossier containing over 2.6 million signatures demanding an end to the prolonged incommunicado status of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Öcalan was handed over to the authorities.
After the meeting, the delegation joined the sit-in in front of the OHCHR which has been ongoing since 25 January as part of the “Dema azadiyê ye” (It’s time for freedom) campaign.
Later, Îdrîs Saîd, co-spokesman of the Northern and Eastern Syria Freedom Initiative for Abdullah Öcalan, provided details of their discussions with OHCHR. He said that the Initiative had collected signatures in a three-month campaign in North and East Syria, which they also presented to officials of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
Xanim Ayo, co-chair of the Lawyers Union in Northern Syria, stressed that during the meeting they conveyed the suffering of the local population, who have been subjected to forced displacement as a result of Turkey’s actions.
“We called for an end to support for the Turkish state and its allied militias. These militias continue to attack Rojava with an aggressive attitude. The air raids are increasing the number of civilian and military casualties. We have presented our demands to the authorities to stop this tragedy,” Ayo stressed.
