Madam Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen, Human Rights Council Forum on Minority Issues Seventh session wkit Kurdisches Zentrum far Studien and juristische Beratungen Kurdish Centre for Navenda kurdi Studies and Legal ji bo Man u rawojkartya yasayi . 4.)fii Jul...p i YASA e.V. Postfach 7624 53076 Bonn Thank you for giving me the opportunity to give this report on the situation of Kurdish people in Syria. My name is Shadi haji. I am honored to be here today with my colleagues from the Kurdish Centre for Studies and Legal consultancies, YASA. Our organization advocates the rights of the approximately three million Syrian Kurds. As you know, Syria is undergoing a bloody civil war between Assad's regime and its allied militias on one side and many other foreign and national armed forces from the opposition, most properly backed by regional countries on the other side. This war has turned Syria into a safe haven for international terrorist forces, which in turn have complicated the crisis in Syria, bringing any political and peaceful solution to a standstill. Undoubtedly, minorities in Syria are the most vulnerable in this conflict, and their existence has come under a serious threat, because they are exposed to ethnic cleansing and genocide carried out by Islamist armed groups, while the Syrian regime, which has always pretended of protecting minorities, has kept silent and taken no action. To protect themselves and their properties after the central government had withdrawn from the most cities and towns in the Kurdish region in Syria, Syrian Kurds have set up a joint self-administration, which also includes Arabs, Assyrians, Chaldeans and Turkmen. In addition to its administrative tasks in the region, which is also known as Western