Independent UN panel calls for diplomatic surge to end ‘daily reality’ of war crimes
in Syria
June 05, 2013: With Syria engulfed in an escalating and increasingly brutal civil
war, a panel of United Nations human rights experts today issued its latest report
on the crisis, detailing war crimes it says were committed by both the Syrian Government
and opposition forces, and calling for a “diplomatic surge” to end the violence. “War
crimes and crimes against humanity have become a daily reality in Syria where the
harrowing accounts of victims have seared themselves on our conscience [...] Referral
to justice remains paramount,” says the Independent International Commission of Inquiry
on Syria in a new report to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council. Created
in August 2011, the Commission is chaired by Paulo Pinheiro, and includes experts
Karen Koning Abuzayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn. The report, the investigative
team’s fourth, covers the period 15 January to 15 May 2013, and documents for the
first time systematic imposition of sieges, the use of chemical agents and forcible
displacement. “Syria is in a free-fall,” Mr. Pinheiro told the Council this morning.
“No one is winning and will not win the war. More weapons will only lead to more civilians
dead and wounded.” Mr. Pinheiro stressed that dialogue is the only way to find a solution
to the conflict which has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 civilians and displaced
more than four million since it began over two years ago. “We ask that States
exert influence over the parties to the conflict to compel them to protect civilians,”
he added. From findings based on 430 interviews and other collected evidence, the
four experts stress in the report that there is a human cost to the increased availability
of weapons in Syria, where arms transfers heighten the risk of violations, leading
to more civilian deaths and injuries. While the experts note that Government forces
and affiliated militia have committed “murder, torture, rape, forcible displacement,
enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts,” as part of widespread or systematic
attacks against civilian populations, they also note that armed anti-Government groups
have also committee war crimes, crimes against humanity, including murder, sentencing
and execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking and pillage. “The violations
and abuses committed by anti-Government armed groups did not, however, reach the intensity
and scale of those committed by Government forces and affiliated militia,” the report
says. In addition, the precarious situation of Syria’s 4.25 million internally displaced
persons (IDPs) is compounded by recent incidents of IDPs being targeted and forcibly
displaced. There are reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been
used as weapons. The experts say that allegations have been received concerning the
use of chemical weapons by both parties. The majority concern their use by Government
forces. In four attacks – on Khan Al-Asal, Aleppo, 19 March; Uteibah, Damascus,
19 March; Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood, Aleppo, 13 April; and Saraqib, Idlib, 29 April
– “there are reasonable grounds to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals
were used.” It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the
precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator. Other incidents
also remain under investigation. Conclusive findings – particularly in the absence
of a large-scale attack – may be reached only after testing samples taken directly
from victims or the site of the alleged attack. “It is, therefore, of utmost importance
that the Panel of Experts, led by Professor Sellström and assembled under the Secretary
General's Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons,
is granted full access to Syria,” the experts say. “A diplomatic surge is the only
path to a political settlement. Negotiations must be inclusive, and must represent
all facets of Syria’s cultural mosaic,” says the Commission, calling on the international
community to support the peace process based on the Geneva Communiqué and the work
of the UN and Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria. The Commission
also calls on the international community to counter the escalation of the conflict
by restricting arms transfers, especially given the clear risk that the arms will
be used to commit serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian
law.