One year ago, we witnessed the beginning of what we called the “Arab revolutions”. Our own analyses established that they had been facilitated by social networks. The public space having been confiscated by the autocratic regimes, the youth had created their own democratic space on the web. One year later, does this analyses still stand? Has the Arab youth succeeded in getting the international community implicated in their demands for human rights respect? Have the democratic States measured up to the values that they defend? What have we done to increase the real possibilities for citizen participation in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya? What participative measures and structures have been favored by the international cooperation? All of these questions would deserve an in-depth analysis.

Today, the real urgency is to respond to the intolerable situation in Syria. On February 3rd, human rights defense organization “Human Rights Watch” (HRW) asserted that children of barely 13 years old are subjected to torture by the army and security forces in Syria. This NGO reported that: “The army and security officers have arrested and tortured children without fear of reprisal. There are at least 12 recorded cases of children being detained in inhumane conditions, tortured or shot to death in their homes or on the streets”. HRW describes the torture perpetrated on children, as being solitary confinement, violent beatings, electrocutions, cigarette burns etc… The statement calls on “the UN Security Council to urgently demand that the Damas government put an end to all these violations and to cooperate with the inquiry commission formed by the UN Human Rights Council”.

It is commonplace for an NGO to stage an urgent interpellation. But an important element to understand the depth of the change is the fact that on February 12th it was the Arab League itself, in a resolution project, which called upon the UN to send Peacekeeper to Syria. The Arab League also calls for reinforced economic sanctions against the Damas regime. This position demonstrates that there really have been important changes. Such a resolution would still have been unfathomable only some months ago. This attitude thus counteracts the pessimism of those who put forward the hypotheses that the coming to power of the opponents encourages the islamization which was contained as best as one can by the representatives of the dictatorial regimes.

On top of this change, a new international instrument was introduced in 2011: the UN General Assembly adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the rights of the child (CRC), establishing a complaint procedure for violations of child rights. This will allow children, or their representatives, to lodge a complaint before the Committee on the rights of the child in the case where they were not able to receive compensation for the violation of their rights in their own State. However, for such a complaint to be examined, the State in question must have accepted the procedure. The new treaty can be used only once 10 States have accepted it. For the Syrian children, this procedure will no doubt come about too late. But the will for a better future as expressed by the democratic States can be evaluated by the number of signatures of this optional protocol. It is a new resource to be included into the assessment of our democratic practices.

February 12th 2012

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