These days, Syria is marking the thirteenth anniversary of the launch of the largest popular movement in its contemporary history throughout the country and by the various social classes and ethnic and religious components of Syrian society, a movement that was faced with unprecedented violence, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, committed against the Syrian people by the Syrian Assad regime and its allies. So far, these crimes have gone without real accountability or punishment.
Today, more than half of Syria’s population is living in a state of forced displacement inside and outside Syria, and most of them are exposed to harsh living conditions, pressures of forced return to regime areas, and deprivation of basic human rights. However, the Syrians’ determination to build a better future for themselves and for future generations is still strong, and they continue to Adhere to their right to a safe and dignified life in their homeland.
The continued suffering of the Syrian people and the state of regional instability are mainly due to the continuation of the Syrian regime’s security and military policies with the support of its allies, and the failure of political solutions based on improvised initiatives that ignore the root cause of the displacement of the Syrian people and the violation of their rights and the commission of crimes against them, which is the absence of a safe environment in Syria.
The failure of the normalization process with the Syrian regime has proven that building political solutions on making concessions to a political regime that does not have actual decision-making or sovereignty are unrealistic or sustainable solutions, and the price for that will be paid by the Syrian people, their neighbors, and even the entire region.
A few months ago, the displaced Syrians expressed, through a broad questionnaire conducted by the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity, their rejection of normalization as a solution to any of the challenges and problems they face. They also confirmed that normalization would not change their decision not to return to Syria in light of the continuation of the current political and security situation, but at the same time, they expressed their determination to achieve the conditions for a safe, voluntary, and dignified return, which cannot be achieved through half-solutions or vague initiatives.
The path of the political and civil struggle facing the Syrians is still long and bumpy, but there is no alternative to it, and it is the duty of this generation to continue it and pave the way for future generations, because the popular movement that began on March 15, 2011 changed the reality of Syria and its future irrevocably, no matter how some try to prove the opposite. International and regional conditions will change, and we, as Syrians, must be ready to exploit them in the best possible way.
