INDEPENDENT UN PANEL CALLS FOR DIPLOMATIC SURGE TO END ‘DAILY REALITY’ OF WAR CRIMES IN SYRIA

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From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 4 Jun 2013 10:00:01 -0400
Subject: INDEPENDENT UN PANEL CALLS FOR DIPLOMATIC SURGE TO END 'DAILY
REALITY' OF WAR CRIMES IN SYRIA
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

INDEPENDENT UN PANEL CALLS FOR DIPLOMATIC SURGE TO END 'DAILY
REALITY' OF WAR CRIMES IN SYRIANew York, Jun 4 2013 10:00AMWith 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," <"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13402&LangID=E">says
the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria in a
new <"http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A-HRC-23-58_en.pdf">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.Jun 4 2013 10:00AM
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