Country : Russian Federation

Committee : United Nations Security Council

Topic : Proxy War in Syria
“The US makes the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Syria even
worse and brings suffering to civilians. History will set things right, and
Washington already bears the heavy responsibility for the bloody outrage in
Yugoslavia, Iraq and Libya.”- Vladimir Putin

The Syrian War has become the second deadliest war in the 21st century (Ray, n.d.)
because of the existence of separatist terrorist groups that are able to sustain because of the
unlawful backing by some foreign parties. Since 2012, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)
and Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been the main cause of chaos in the land by trying to
claim every inch of Syrian territory, causing conflicts and fear to Syria and its people. This
is important to note because these separatist terrorist groups are acting only on their
interest—because the fact is—Syrian people are not in favor with them. This was proven
by the 2014 election that democratically elected Bashar Al-Assad as the president with an
88,3% yes votes (MacMiller, 2018), and other polls concluding that most Syrians are
backing Al-Assad (Steele, 2012). This proves that the United States and its allies’ motives
to support these terrorists are bogus and merely a propaganda to justify their actions and
serves their political interests. Moreover, aggressions against the sovereign Syrian
government and the support given to the separatist terrorist militias are violating the
non-intervention principle of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) under the 1949
Geneva Convention in the Article 2 of the First and Third Protocol—stating that
intervention is only justified when there is uses of armed forces against states, which was
not the case of Syria in mid-2017. Moreover, any countries deciding to exercise the
Responsibility to Protect (R2P) has to first uphold the First Pillar of Responsibility to
Protect (R2P)—constituting that the primary responsibility is to help the state building
their capacity to protect their citizens (“About R2P”, n.d.), not the otherwise by supplying
the terrorists and weakening the state. Having said that, we support the decisions that have
been made by countries that have violated these international laws, such as the United
States, to withdraw from the issue (Schmitt, 2019), but we need measures to guarantee a
full withdrawal and stop of supply to these terrorists, along with international cooperation
to reconstruct Syria.

Valuing the State sovereignty, Russian Federation supports the legitimate

government of Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar Al-Assad and we regret the premature
and illegitimate intervention done by many other foreign powers. Contrary to that, Russia’s
help to Syria to fight against the terrorist groups has always been under the official request
of Syrian legitimate government and is conducted in accordance to the existing
international laws. First, it upholds the Treaty of Westphalia and The International Law
Commission Article 20-26 stating that intervention is legitimate if the consent is present.
(“When Does a State Violates International Law”, n.d.) Second, it fulfills the 1949 Geneva
Convention which only International Armed Conflict (IAC) may be intervened by foreign
actors. The moment Russia involved in the conflict, it was already an IAC due to the
already existing US intervention. (“When does IHL Apply”, n.d.) Third, Russia-led strike
on terrorist groups is justifiable because according the IHL, they are not civilians and

1
making them subject to direct attacks. (“Who Does IHL Protect”, n.d.) Fourth, Russia
fully complies on all

the International Humanitarian Law principles in doing the protection to Syrian civilians
and combating terrorist groups, such as but not limited to: (1) the principle of
proportionality by helping the Syrian government in combating the US-backed terrorist
groups; and (2) the principle of humanity to prevent further damages and casualties caused
by the terrorist groups. (“Basic Principles of IHL”, n.d.) Fifth, Russia has also provided
many humanitarian aids, for example the establishment of six aid centers to support more
than 3000 refugees in Syria (Al-Khalidi, 2016). Being close in terms of territory and
diplomatic relations, Russian Federation will continue to support the legitimate
government of Syrian Arab Republic through combating terrorist group and reconstructing
the country.

Acknowledging US withdrawal from the Syrian conflict, Russian Federation

believes the discussion should be elevated by curating measures to ensure US, and its
allies, to fully withdraw and establishing a set of mechanisms to support the Syrians and
their legitimate government in restoring security and stability. Therefore, Russian
Federation proposes a set of norms that could serve as a basis of the policy directions, with
the following provisions:
1. Withdrawal of Illegitimate Parties (WHIP)
In accordance to the 1999 International Convention for the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism, Russian Federation calls all member States to stop the
financing, direct or indirect, to groups that are considered as terrorists under United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1566. Moreover, foreign countries involved in
the Syrian Proxy War that has violated international laws shall start to pull out their
troops from Syrian sovereign state in case-by-case approach in a set period of time.
2. Detect, Deploy, Disarm (3D) Framework
Pursuant to resolution adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/60/1) Article
81-89 and adopted by Security Council (S/RES/2482 (2019)) Article 10-11 on
combatting terrorism, Russian Federation proposes this framework to detect the
activities of existing terrorist groups in Syria by joint international cooperation,
followed by the deployment of Syrian Army to combat the terrorist groups and
conduct the disarmament of illegal stockpiling weapons and military equipment.
3. International Support for Peace-building and Reconstruction (INSPIRE)
Fostering the unanimously adopted resolution 2282 (2016) on post-conflict peace
building, Russia endorses the Syria reconstruction through supporting the legitimate
government. First, we propose the creation of constitutional committee to review
and advise Syria rewriting their constitutions under their consent. For short-term
mechanisms, we propose the providence of safety zone and humanitarian aid. For
long-term mechanisms, we aim to facilitate the establishment of durable peace and
to prevent the recurrence of violence by institution re-building, and political as well
as economic transformation.

Russian Federation believes that the deadly damaging Syrian War caused by the
terrorist groups, that suffers Syrian people and humanity needs to be put to an end. Thus,
we hope that the aforementioned proposals will continuously be built upon and improved
in the upcoming assembly.

2
Works Cited:

1. About R2P. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.globalr2p.org/about_r2p

2. Al-Khalidi, Sulaeman. (2016) Scores of families leave besieged Aleppo
under Russia- Damascus plan. Retrieved from
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-
aleppo-idUSKCN10A0IM
3. Basic Principles of IHL. (n.d.). Diakonia. Retrieved from
https://www.diakonia.se/en/IHL/The-Law/International-Humanitarian-Law-1/I
ntroduction- to-IHL/Principles-of-International-Law/
4. MacMillan, S. (2018). Bashar Al-Assad: The Democratically Elected
President of Syria. Retrieved from
,https://www.globalresearch.ca/bashar-al-assad-the-democratically-elected-
president-of-syria-2/5584950
5. Ray, M. (n.d.). 8 Deadliest Wars in the 21st Century.
Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/list/8-deadliest-wars-of-the-
21st-century
6. Schmitt, E. (2019). U.S. Troops Leaving Syria, But Some May Stay Longer
Than Expected. Retrieved from
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/world/middleeast/us-troops-syria-
isis.html
7. Steele, J. (2012, Jan 17). Most Syrians back Assad, but you’d never know
from western media. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/17/syrians-
support-assad-western-propaganda
8. When Does a State Violates International Law?. (n.d.). Diakonia. Retrieved
from
https://www.diakonia.se/en/IHL/The-Law/International-Law1/Enforcement-
of-IL/When- does-a-state-violate-IL/
9. When Does IHL Apply?. (n.d.). Diakonia. Retrieved from
https://www.diakonia.se/en/IHL/The-Law/International-Humanitarian-Law-1/I
ntroduction- to-IHL/International-Humanitarian-Law/
10. Who Does IHL Protect?. (n.d.). Diakonia. Retrieved from
https://www.diakonia.se/en/IHL/The-Law/International-Humanitarian-Law-1/I
ntroduction- to-IHL/IL--self-determination/
11. International Convention for the Supression of the Financing of
Terrorism. (1999). Retrieved from
https://treaties.un.org/doc/db/Terrorism/english-18-11.pdf