The Humanist International speaks out strongly for peace in Syria demanding that the peoples of the world make common cause in opposition to what is taking place today. For this we need to make it known that:

1. The Syrian people deserve the best efforts of all the authorities of countries of the world to bring about a peace that will allow Syria to develop in accordance with the Syrian people’s finest aspirations. Thus, any negotiations carried out must take into account the needs of the Syrian people to move towards a full and real democracy in the shortest time.

2. We declare that violence is not an acceptable solution and the assistance of all civilized nations is needed to promote a government of stability and security, of Peace and Nonviolence.

3. The solution must be a political one using dialogue and not military means.

4. We explicitly condemn military intervention by foreign countries not only because of the obvious wrong of such interference but also because, for workable political persuasion, it is essential to operate from and strengthen national sovereignty.

In accordance with these four conditions the proposed action of the International Humanist is to immediately:

– Terminate military intervention by the United States and those European countries that comply with the USA in those interventions in the internal affairs of Syria.
– Constitute a cease-fire guaranteed by a permanent observer mission of those not committed to attacks on Syria.
– The establishment of a programme and timetable for the political and social reforms agreed among the people and their political parties working on behalf of the diverse groups in Syria.

These measures form the basis of the minimum conditions needed to overcome this violence fraught juncture where the violence of a minority is facing the violence of another minority, taking place within a complex of different ideological stances of the ethnic and religious groups.

Finally, we reiterate that, when we speak of “direct or real democracy” we are talking about peace, because if people are consulted about going to war, war would not exist! People love life and want peace.

The Humanist International proposes, as we did 30 years ago, moving towards real direct democracy as the road to take to liberation and transformation, bringing the human being to the central values of a true human history.

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Humanist International