A/HRC/19/11 terrorist threats. For this reason, the law enforcement organs faced many challenges. The Government would submit to the High Commissioner for Human Rights a list of martyrs among the police and security officials, over 1,100 of whom had been killed by terrorists who received support from some neighbouring countries. These countries, whose actions violated the right to life, were the same countries that were holding conferences on human rights and democracy. 9. Syria noted that the killings were accompanied by incitement in the regional and international media, which provided instructions and directed these criminal activities. Billions of dollars had been smuggled into Syria in recent months and distributed among extremists, arms dealers, drug traffickers and criminal organizations, and pay TV channels were fabricating footage available to those paying the highest price. Syria asserted that it was in a position to provide the Human Rights Council with audio-visual evidence exposing the lies of these TV stations and their backers, and indicated that the Council procedures as explained by the Bureau did not allow for the viewing of a short video supporting the State’s assertion in this regard. Syria referred to numerous media stories about Zeinab El-Hosni, the girl who allegedly had been murdered by the security forces, but who in fact was alive and well and had given her testimony on Syrian television. 10. Syria was situated in an explosive region, as a result of colonialism and policies of occupation, and it had suffered from political, economic and social problems. While it could accept advice from some African, Asian and Latin American countries, the Western colonial powers had no right to give advice on human rights, especially after having killed over 50,000 Libyans only a short while ago, and a million Iraqis after the American invasion, as well as thousands in Côte d’Ivoire and central Africa, without mentioning Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. Western countries did not care about human rights, but only sought to secure their supply of oil and mineral resources. If they truly cared about human rights they would also care about the rights of the Palestinian people and not use their veto against them. 11. The President of Syria had undertaken a number of reform measures, including political reforms towards pluralism and democracy, by holding elections and granting freedom of the media. However, so-called humanitarian problems should not be used by the United Nations and the Human Rights Council as grounds for interference in Syrian affairs, which would only serve to justify aggression against Syria and plans for a Western and Israeli hegemony in the region. 12. The fact that Syria had received delegations from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demonstrated that it had nothing to hide. Syria was willing to benefit from any advice provided by true friends to make further progress in its socio-economic development, including in the area of human rights. The President had issued a decree providing for the freedom to establish parties, and progress had been made with the permits for over 15 new political parties. Local government elections would be held in December within the framework of the new Election Law, and parliamentary elections were planned for February, which would complete the reforms desired by the Syrian people. 13. Since the early stages of the recent events, the President had addressed their causes by issuing a number of decrees and decisions, including on the repeal of the Emergency Law and the abolition of the Supreme State Security Court, as well as three decrees on a general amnesty and a law on the right to peaceful demonstration. In addition, an independent judicial committee had been established to investigate the events and the circumstances which had led to the death of both civilians and military personnel. The door for dialogue had remained open throughout, with the aim of ensuring broad participation in the search for solutions to the political, economic and social problems. Within this framework, consultations had been held for a comprehensive national dialogue. However, 4