This message is from Amir, a White Helmets volunteer who survived the chemical attack in Douma in 2018, saved lives and helped document the evidence. Add your name to Amir’s call for a new international tribunal to hold the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks accountable.

Seven years ago, Assad’s regime killed 91 people, including 32 children, in an illegal chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun in northwest Syria. Almost exactly a year later, on 7th April 2018, I was in the city of Douma when it too was attacked by the regime’s chemical weapons. 

I will never forget that day. As the head of the White Helmets in nearby Eastern Ghouta, I rushed to rescue the injured. Among the dead was my brother who I helped to bury alongside other victims in mass graves. There wasn’t even time to grieve for him as we worked around the clock to save lives and document the atrocity. 

Despite all our efforts, no one has been held accountable for these crimes. At least 336 chemical attacks have taken place in Syria since 2011, with the Assad regime responsible for about 98% of them and the rest by ISIS, according to The Global Public Policy Institute. 

Now Syrian survivors, first responders and civil society leaders are calling on states to act collectively to create a new international tribunal to prosecute perpetrators of chemical attacks – and overcome Russia and China’s repeated vetoing of existing routes to justice through the UN. That’s where you come in.

Sign the petition to call on countries around the world to come together to create a new tribunal to air the extensive evidence collected about chemical attacks for which there is no international judicial forum, to provide justice for victims, and to hold perpetrators to account. 

Together, let’s urge world leaders to seize this historic opportunity to end impunity for the use of chemical weapons. You can read more about the Exceptional Chemical Weapons Tribunal here: https://www.cwtribunal.org/