Ribal Al-Assad's New Year Message

The challenges and opportunities facing Syria are immense. Corruption is rife and wealth remains in the hands of the few at the top. Press censorship, secret detention, and human rights violations continue unabated. United Nation's figures show that Syrians face high unemployment rates and seven million people, which is one third of the population, live in poverty. The regime's mismanagement of the economy has exacerbated the situation.

Syria has been suffering from drought for the last three years.The situation has been compounded by poor water planning and management, and wasteful irrigation systems. Two million people have been badly hit by the drought. More than eight hundred thousand people are living on a poor diet of tea, sugar and bread, which is wholly inadequate for sustaining a healthy existence. The regime urgently needs to provide permanent solutions to the water shortage problems and its priority must be the installation of new irrigation systems and making easy finance available to farmers with the cancellation of old debts.

Democracy, freedom, human rights and economic reform - these are the things that are key to Syria's future. The hopes and aspirations of millions of ordinary Syrians can only be realised through peaceful and transitional democratic reform. The current situation is unsustainable.

We will continue to expose corruption, highlight human rights abuses and be the voice of all those who have been silenced. We will continue to campaign for a free, democratic, and pluralist Syria that doesn't depend on Iran and have its future dictated by it.

I sincerely believe that we can and must change Syria for the better. Together we can make 2011 the year that Syria began to change.

Ribal Al-Assad

Founder & Director

The Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria