UN: serious crimes being committed in Syria in midst of unrest News
UN: serious crimes being committed in Syria in midst of unrest

[JURIST] Four UN human rights experts briefed the Security Council on Friday regarding a new report [text, DOC] on human rights violations in war-torn Syria. Heading the Commission of Inquiry was Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic [official websites], who called for greater international action to end the abuses perpetrated against Syrian civilians, stating “[i]t is unconscionable that Syrians should continue to suffer as they have for the last four years and have to live in a world where only limited attempts have been made to return Syria to peace, and to seek justice for the victims.” Joining Pinheiro to form the group was Karen Koning AbuZayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn [official profiles]. The group highlighted a need for political and judicial accountability in Syria coupled with greater adherence to Resolution 2139 [text], which stressed the need to bring violation perpetrators to justice. The UN report tracked a major pattern of abuse in Syria from March 2011 to January 2015. Gathered from over 3,500 account of Syrian civilians, the report details hundreds of thousands of deaths and displacements.

The Syrian government has been accused of substantial human rights abuses during the course of the Syrian civil war [JURIST backgrounder]. On Thursday the UN Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] Zeid Raad Al Hussein [official profile] urged Syrian authorities to release jailed activists [press release] that have been held without due process, in some cases for years. On Monday, a coalition of 71 human rights groups released a statement [JURIST report] urging the Syrian government to release three prominent human rights defenders on the third anniversary of their imprisonment. The statement identified the three men, Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Gharir, as Syrian journalists who were arrested in a raid of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, and who have been detained and tortured on charges of “publicizing terrorist acts” under Syria’s Anti-Terrorism Law of 2012. Despite being formally charged one year ago, their trial has been repeatedly postponed, and the government’s applicable 2014 amnesty grant has not been honored. In April the UN human rights chief reported [JURIST report] that human rights abuses in the Syrian conflict were overwhelmingly committed by the government and not by rebel forces.