This form is for academics and intellectuals who wish to add their name as a signatory to the statement “Never Again in Syria: A Call to the World.”

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Full Statement "Never Again in Syria: A Call to the World" can be read here: 

Daily Updated List of Signatories can be accessed here: 

To World Leaders, International Institutions, and the Global Public,

We write at a moment of moral rupture in Syria—one that will define not only the country’s future but also the credibility of the international order that claims to uphold human rights, pluralism, and the rule of law.

Following the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024, power in Damascus has been assumed by Ahmed al-Shara, known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an organization rooted in Salafi-jihadist ideology and long associated with Al-Qaeda. Within a single year, Syria has been pushed toward a new authoritarian order imposed through force, sectarian violence, and exclusion—without democratic legitimacy or public consent.

Massacres against Alawite and Druze civilians, the repression and displacement of Kurdish communities, and the violent dismantling of Syria’s social and political diversity have unfolded without credible international investigation or accountability. Armed operations carried out under the guise of state institutions—particularly in Kurdish areas of Aleppo and across North and East Syria—have employed methods disturbingly reminiscent of the Islamic State. The assault on the Syrian Democratic Forces, who paid an immense human cost in the global fight against ISIS, marks a tragic reversal: those who defended human dignity have been abandoned, while a jihadist actor is increasingly normalized.

Most gravely, the assault launched against the Syrian Democratic Forces—actors who bore the heaviest burden in the global fight against ISIS and sacrificed more than 11,000 lives in defense of humanity—has left North and East Syria abandoned. The destruction of Kurdish self-administration and self-defense structures, undertaken with international acquiescence, constitutes a betrayal that history will not absolve.

Today, the people of Kobani, Hasakah, and the Jazira region stand on the brink of mass expulsion. A humanitarian catastrophe looms, not as an accident of war, but as the foreseeable result of political choices made by regional and global powers. To remain silent in the face of this is not neutrality—it is complicity.

That these developments have taken place amid silence, accommodation, or political engagement by international powers constitutes a profound failure of responsibility. “Never again” was meant to be a commitment to prevent mass violence, not a phrase invoked after the fact. When atrocities are ignored, relativized, or politically managed, that commitment is emptied of meaning.

Stability built on violence and exclusion is neither peace nor security; it is the prelude to renewed catastrophe. Diplomatic recognition without accountability risks legitimizing repression and signals to persecuted communities that their lives and rights are negotiable.

We therefore call upon world leaders, international institutions, and the global public:

·       To reject silence and indifference in the face of mass violence, forced displacement, and collective punishment.

·       To refuse political legitimization of actors responsible for grave human rights violations.

·       To demand independent international investigations into massacres, war crimes, and demographic engineering.

·       To defend the rights of Syria’s diverse peoples—Kurds, Alawites, Druze, Christians, Yazidis, and others—to equality, self-administration, and protection under international law.

·       To ensure that any political or economic engagement with those exercising power in Syria is strictly conditioned on verifiable progress in human rights, women’s rights, freedom of expression, and inclusive political participation.

History will not judge this moment by expressions of concern, but by whether action was taken when warning signs were unmistakable. The peoples of Syria do not ask for charity or selective solidarity; they ask for the right to live with dignity, security, and equality in their own country.

If “Never Again” is to mean anything, it must apply not only to remembered crimes but also to crimes unfolding in the present.