The Council of Eastern Churches and Religious References in a message to Biden: We call for the lifting of the American sanctions that increase the suffering of the Syrians

Damascus-Sana

The Council of Eastern Churches, heads of churches and religious authorities called on US President Joe Biden to cancel the unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian people that increase their suffering, especially in light of the Corona pandemic.

"Once again, in defense of human rights and human dignity, the Middle East Council of Churches renews its call for the abolition of the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian people, which are more and more carefully violating their right to live in dignity and threatening an unjust humanitarian catastrophe," said in a message sent by the council, church leaders and religious actors to Biden on the occasion of assuming the presidency. Preceded in the region ”.

The message called for immediate action to abolish the economic sanctions that the Syrian people have been suffering under for years in light of difficult living conditions and economic, social and health crises that are exacerbated daily, especially with the Coronavirus pandemic and its catastrophic repercussions, referring in this regard to the report of Alina Dohan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of coercive measures. Unilateralism on the lives of the Syrian people, especially in the context of the Corona pandemic.

The letter mentioned that Syria ten years ago was the food basket for the region, but today, due to war and coercive US unilateral measures, the Syrian people have suffered greatly, calling for Biden to work to alleviate the effects of the humanitarian crisis that threatens the Middle East and the world with a new wave of instability.

The letter called on Washington to stop using unilateral measures aimed at achieving its interests at the expense of the people, especially through the unjust sanctions imposed on Syria.

The message was signed by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches, Dr. Michel Abs, and a number of heads of Middle Eastern churches, among them His Beatitude .. the Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius III Jonah, the Greek Melkite Patriarch Yusef al-Absi, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Avram II, and a number of religious, political and social references.