9 September 2010 / TODAY’S ZAMAN WITH REUTERS, İSTANBUL
Syria’s denial of citizenship rights to its Kurdish minority is “unacceptable” and the government should improve their treatment to help build national unity, a high-level UN human rights official said.
In a rare visit to Syria, UN Special Rapporteur Olivier de Schutter issued a report examining human rights in a country which has been in a state of emergency since the Baath party came to power in 1963. The report said authorities should do more for victims of a drought that has impoverished much of the country’s east. The area is populated by a mix of Arabs and Kurds, including up to 300,000 Kurds who are stateless as a result of an old census that denied them Syrian nationality. “They cannot travel abroad. They have no access to public employment and are discriminated in access to health and education,” Schutter told reporters in Damascus. “This is unacceptable. Thought must be given to recognizing that these people have a right to Syrian nationality. It is not the official position of the government but I think that it will be a way to create unity,” he added. No Syrian officials were immediately available for comment. Officials have in the past promised to look into the situation, saying there is no discrimination against Kurds. The east, home to most of the Kurds that make up 10-15 percent of the population, has suffered from drought since 2005. Schutter’s report said 800,000 people in the region were severely hit by the drought and living in extreme poverty.
