The Eighth Brussels Conference: Hopes and Ambitions

Since 2011, Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with its ongoing war against its own people to maintain its grip on power, has pushed Syria and its people to the brink on all fronts. This prompted the European Union to organize the Support for the Future of Syria and the Region conference starting from 2017, aiming to encourage donor commitments with participation from government representatives, international and regional organizations, and civil society organizations. However, Russia was not invited to last year’s conference due to its invasion of Ukraine.

During Brussels I, held on April 4-5, 2017, donors pledged 5.6 billion euros, with 3.47 billion euros as assistance for the period 2018-2020. In Brussels II, on April 24-25, 2018, donors pledged 3.5 billion euros. Brussels III, from March 12 to 14, 2019, saw pledges of 6.2 billion euros for 2019, and 2.4 billion euros for 2020 and beyond.

At Brussels IV, the European Commission stated that participants in the donor conference to aid Syrian refugees, organized by the EU and the UN in Brussels, pledged 6.9 billion euros (7.7 billion dollars), including 4.9 billion for 2020.

In Brussels V, jointly chaired by the EU and the UN, the international community pledged 5.3 billion euros for 2021 and beyond for Syria and neighboring countries hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees.

During Brussels VI, the international community pledged around 6.4 billion euros for 2022 and beyond, with the EU committing over 4.8 billion euros, including more than 3.1 billion euros from the European Commission and 1.7 billion euros from EU member states.

At Brussels VII, the international community pledged 9.6 billion euros distributed between grants and loans for the Syrian people and the countries hosting Syrian refugees, while pledging nearly 5.6 billion euros for 2023 and beyond, including more than 3.8 billion euros committed by the EU and its member states.

The EU reaffirmed its commitment to continue mobilizing all available tools to support the negotiated political solution in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and to help create conditions for a better future for all Syrians, ultimately reaching a Syrian-led, Syrian-owned agreement to end the people’s suffering and return Syrians to their homes.

Undoubtedly, this declared generosity by donors in Brussels conferences represents an important and necessary first step in providing assistance, financial support, and political empowerment to the Syrian people, aiming towards a comprehensive solution in line with UN Resolution 2254, leading to a Syrian-Syrian consensus that ends the people’s suffering and returns Syrians to their homes.

From here, we in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) hope that the Brussels Conference 8 can achieve its goals and be a partner for Syrians in some way, not just providing support! Here we summarize our aspirations for this stage in the following points:

1. Continuation of financial support to meet the needs of the Syrian people, especially the essential ones, while emphasizing the need to prevent the Syrian regime or any of its backdoor channels or hidden wings from benefiting from any form of support, as more than a third of the financial support entering Syria is controlled by the Syrian regime through schemes and plans we are well aware of! We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) are ready to cooperate with relevant parties through our experiences and expertise to prevent the Syrian regime from exploiting or diverting financial support for its own benefit.
2. The financial support should somehow contribute to achieving a comprehensive political solution reached through the UN table and thwart Russia’s plan regarding the safe and neutral environment, which aims to sideline the UN from sponsoring the solution! To distinguish Russia uniquely, and thus we fear in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) that the international community will remain aloof from political interaction with the Syrian file, which may compel us to succumb to Russian will and desire. There is still a great opportunity for the international community to support a path that prevents Russian control over Syria by exerting pressure to accept a politically acceptable and feasible solution by the Syrian regime and opposition. We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) are working on this with our partners in America and other countries, and we expect something tangible to emerge soon that we will announce and share with our people and our homeland.
3. Participation and deepening dialogue with the Syrian civil society and key stakeholders in the United Nations and its agencies, and the necessity of maintaining this communication and cooperation. We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM), as a civil movement with a presence inside Syria and a growing popular base, look forward to further coordination and cooperation with the UN and encourage them to visit our centers inside Syria and observe our activities, and to be partners with us. We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) strive and aspire to be a real link with the various Syrian civil currents on one hand, and the United Nations and its agencies on the other hand.
4. Ensuring accountability for those responsible for the crimes committed in Syria during the war, ensuring they are not exempt from punishment, and monitoring their financial assets and how they are managed.
5. We consider the annual Brussels conferences as a “ray of hope” for Syrians, and here the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) carries the message of the entire Syrian people to preserve and build on that ray of hope, as it reflects the desire of the Syrian people for peace, stability, and decent life.
6. Fighting extremist organizations may require military force, but possessing scientific sovereignty is the optimal way to confront their narratives, surround them, and dismantle them, especially in what the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) is doing by focusing on children, teenagers, and youth. Therefore, it is necessary to help us in our project, which we have been working on for years on the ground, to spread education to confront extremist ideology. We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) attach great importance today to orphaned children and school dropouts, and we provide them with scientific and psychological care together, believing that we should not leave them as easy prey to the sponsors and preachers of extremist rhetoric. It is a mutual interest between us as Syrians on one side and the international community on the other side.
7. Patriarchy is widespread in Syria for social, political, religious, and other reasons, and there is a need to promote gender equality subtly and non-confrontationally through well-thought-out educational programs. We in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) are trying to provide a soft reform in this field, and it is necessary for agencies concerned with equality and gender to cooperate with us on the ground, and we are flexible in all ways of cooperation that serve our humanitarian goals and serve our Syrian people to overcome the consequences of the war.

In conclusion:
Our vision for the world in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) today is not based on the idea of polarity, but rather on distinguishing between the axis of the international system based on the principles of human rights and the axis of the backward systems of evil that want to drag historical, religious, and authoritarian conflicts at the expense of progress and human development. Therefore, we in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) believe in our role in supporting the march of the axis of the international system based on the principles of human rights, and we believe that all efforts, no matter how small, are useful in narrowing the scope of the axes of evil and various backward centers. We also see that the first axis (our axis as Syrians) must unite, cooperate, and assist the international community in fulfilling its tasks and duties, just as the axes of evil help each other! We see the necessity of not leaving any step without support and guidance. Therefore, we in the Syrian Future Movement (SFM) request your help in planning, consultations, financing, and … We offer all our capabilities to support the principles of human rights in Syria first, protecting international security and peace from collapse and erosion in the face of the axes of evil and various backward centers.

Dr. Zaher Ihssan Baadarani
Presidency office
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Syrian Future Movement (SFM)