Calls for the cessation of bleeding in Yarmouk camp and its surroundings and demands the neutralization of civilians

The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria condemned in the strongest terms, in a joint statement signed with 16 rights and human rights organizations, the flaming hostilities in south Damascus, including Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees. It called on the conflicting parties to stop destroying the area and the bleeding in Yarmouk camp immediately and to neutralize the civilians. It demanded that another solution be reached, other than a military resolution, which guarantees the security of the civilians, public and private facilities and the infrastructure.

The Action Group and the organizations that signed the agreement, called on the organizations and bodies of the international community (including UNRWA which is concerned with the situation of Palestinian refugees), to intervene rapidly and urgently to protect the civilians’ lives, to open safe corridors for the people, to allow the entry of medical staff and the transfer of the injured to hospitals to receive the urgent medical help needed, as well as to facilitate the entry of relief and humanitarian assistance including food, medicine and baby milk.

The statement also called for the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union, to put stress on the actors in the Syrian crisis, to put an end to the bleeding, and urged the Palestinian authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to take on their responsibilities towards the Palestinian refugees in Yarmouk camp, demanding them to communicate efficiently with all the conflicting parties in Syria, to protect the Palestinian camps from any operation that aims to destroy them and to respect the Palestinian presence in Syria.

It is noteworthy that the 16 rights and human rights organizations that signed this statement are: The Action Group for Palestinians of Syria, the Center for Democratic Republic Studies, The Day After Organization TDA, the Syrian Civil Defense, Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression SCM, Syrian Journalists Association, Violation Documentation Center VDC, Syria Legal Network in the Netherlands, Horas Network, Baytna Syria, Local Administration Councils Unit LACU, Syrian Human Rights Network, Local Development and Small Business Support Office, Women Now For Development, Badael Organization and the Syrian Women’s Network.