13 February 2025
The International Conference on Syria:
A good programme : now we need action.
A new international conference on Syria will be held in Paris on Thursday 13 February. This is the third meeting of its kind since the change of government in Syria, following those held in Aqaba, Jordan, on 14 December 2024 and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 12 January.
This international conference will be attended by the Foreign Minister of the Syrian transitional authorities, Assaad Hassan el-Chibani.
For Benjamin Blanchard, General Director of SOS Chrétiens d’Orient, an organisation that has been working in Syria since 2013: “these international conferences are very nice, but for the moment, they don’t lead to… a big thing. For the past three months, Syria has been in a state of total immobility.”
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient is therefore calling for:
1- The lifting of the international sanctions that have been imposed on the Syrian people for 14 years. “We called for these sanctions’ lifting be at the start of the war; we called for that in 2018, at the end of the “hot” war, and we are calling for them now more than ever. These sanctions are impoverishing the Syrian people, 90% of whom live below the poverty line”. For the moment, only partial suspensions in certain specific sectors are underway.
2- The protection for Syrian Christians, who are demanding to be considered as Syrian citizens with full rights. “While freedom of worship is guaranteed in Syria for the time being, some of the statements made by the new Syrian authorities are more than worrying. For example, Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s new strongman, has still not met any of the three patriarchs based in Damascus; justice is now dispensed in the name of God; in the public sector, women are encouraged to wear the veil, etc.” laments Benjamin Blanchard.
Benjamin Blanchard, General Director of SOS Chrétiens d’Orient, would be delighted to answer your questions on the Syrian situation.
Contact us: +33 (0)7 61 25 08 62
