Women on the issues: Syria
The words and names of chemical weapons, military strike, Syria, Assad, and Russia have taken up news headlines for the past few weeks. The chain of events may seem like a blur as headlines last week were updated by the minute. Within the past few days, new developments have shifted what looked to be the start of more U.S. military force in the Middle East, into a more diplomatic resolution.
From the Headlines:
More than 1,000 people were killed on August 21st by the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime.
Investigations into the inhuman use of chemical weapons led U.S. leaders into a political debate on whether to carry out a military strike to undermine the Assad regime.
In effort to prevent use of force, on Saturday, September 14, the U.S. and Russia reached a diplomatic deal on Syria’s chemical weapons. Syria decided to join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The (CWC) Chemical Weapons Convention is an international organization made up of 189 member states. Their mission is to prevent chemical warfare. To join the convention, members are committed to destroying all chemical weapon stockpiles. In 1997 Syria was one of seven countries to not join the Chemical Weapons Convention.
With Syria’s new agreement, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov announced on Saturday a framework for eliminating Syrian chemical weapons. The joint plan provides the procedures for destroying all chemical weapons in Syria and production sights by the first half of 2014.
President Obama addressed the nation on Saturday stating, “This can’t be a stalling tactic [by Syria and Russia],” and the U.S. “will not just take Russia and Syria’s word for it.” The international community must continue to watch and see concrete action, and commitments kept to turn over weapons.
Obama stated that military force has been postponed, but that the U.S. “maintains military posture to put pressure on the regime.”
If diplomacy fails, military force will be necessary.
Although leaders framed a diplomatic resolution, peace in Syria has not resolved. The Syrian opposition is not happy and will not recognize the agreement between the U.S. – Russia. They will not agree to a ceasefire while chemical weapon investigations are carried out. The international community will continue to watch Syria to ensure compliance their with the CWC.
UVA Women in Response:
Jewel Crosswell, a third-year at UVA, says, “It is important to be informed on this situation because of what it reveals not only about what is happening across the globe, but also right here in the US.”
Crosswell sees the importance of understanding the events of the world, but also urges students to pay attention to inhumanity seen in the U.S.
She says, “I think it is incredibly sad that we do not hear about the children’s lives being lost everyday in the US due to food insecurity.”
Noting the recent talk about reducing the SNAPs budget, which would lead to more Americans who are food insecure, Crosswell says, “We should try to look at Syria and its publicity and proceed to look back at our own injustices that are also resulting in death right here.”
Crosswell commented on the different nature between US food insecurity and the use of chemical weapons for mass murder stating, “the broadcasting of the mass deaths [in Syria] is not unwarranted and should provoke attention from Americans in order to take proper intervention for the Syrian people.”
Natalie Hummel, a fourth-year at UVA agrees that students should stay informed about global issues.
Hummel worries that many of her peers are not informed enough about what is happening in Syria.
She says, “I find this unfortunate because to me it reveals how jaded we’ve become from our constant exposure to the sheer volume of information available to us.”
Though the events happening in Syria have been constantly broadcasted, many have not paid any attention or have become disinterested in the debate.
Hummel says, “It is important to remember that the impetus for this political debate was the covert and cowardly murder of a thousand innocent people. If we forget that, we will not reach a justifiable solution.”