PROOF calls on the international community to ensure the protection of human rights in Syria and prevent another potential genocide.

Should the upcoming report of the UN inspectors support the evidence of chemical weapons reported by the news media, the UN must uphold its commitment to the universally ratified Right to Protect (R2P) principles and protect the rights of civilians against this atrocity.

Following the R2P framework, the international community must meet its obligation to protect civilians from four types of atrocities – genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity – when their country fails to do so.

We do not support military action outside this framework. Instead, the US and other countries should use their full armamentarium of nonviolent tools to weaken the armed forces in Syria.

We urge all our colleagues and supporters to maintain pressure on the UN and the US to take appropriate action and uphold their obligations to protect the civilian victims of the Syrian conflict.