SYRIA: UN RIGHTS PANEL URGES POLITICAL SOLUTION TO CRISIS, END TO IMPUNITY FOR WAR CRIMES

From: UNNews <UNNews@un.org>
Date: 11 Sep 2013 13:00:01 -0400
Subject: SYRIA: UN RIGHTS PANEL URGES POLITICAL SOLUTION TO CRISIS,
END TO IMPUNITY FOR WAR CRIMES
To: news11@ny-mail-p-lb-028.ptc.un.org

SYRIA: UN RIGHTS PANEL URGES POLITICAL SOLUTION TO CRISIS, END TO
IMPUNITY FOR WAR CRIMESNew York, Sep 11 2013 1:00PMCiting ongoing
incidents of murder, rape, torture, widespread attacks on civilians
and hostage-taking committed by Syrian forces and anti-Government
armed groups, a United Nations-appointed human rights probe
<"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13708&LangID=E">reported
today that "the perpetrators of these violations and crimes, on all
sides, act in defiance of international law. The do not fear
accountability."

"Referral to justice is imperative. There is no military solution to
this conflict. Those who supply arms create but an illusion of
victory," the <"http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/IndependentInternationalCommission.aspx">International
Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in its latest
<"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/HRC/24/46">report,
delivered to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council, stressing that
a political solution founded upon tenets of the Geneva communiqué is
the "only path to peace".

The panel, which describes Syria today as "a battlefield [where]
massacres are perpetrated with impunity [and] and untold number of
Syrians have disappeared," reports that Government and pro-Government
forces in Syria have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the
civilian population with impunity, committing murder, torture, rape
and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity, today reported
stressing that there is no military solution to the conflict.

"Failure to bring about a political settlement has allowed the
conflict not only to deepen in its intransigence but also to widen –
expanding to new actors and to new, previously unimaginable crimes."

Established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, the Commission is
mandated to investigate and record all violations of international
human rights law during the Syria conflict.

The findings produced in today's report are based on 258 interviews
and other evidence collected during the two-month period between 15
May and 15 July 2013.

As for allegations were received regarding the use of chemical
weapons, predominantly by Government forces, the Commission reports
that on the evidence currently available, "it was not possible to
reach a finding about the chemical agents used, their delivery systems
or the perpetrators. Investigations are ongoing."

The Commission goes on to report that Government forces "committed
gross violations of human rights and the war crimes of torture,
hostage-taking, murder, execution without due process, rape, attacking
protected objects and pillage."

In reference to the offensive on Al-Qusayr town where the Commission
verified that 450 people were killed, "Government forces conducted
themselves in flagrant disregard of the distinction between civilians
and persons directly participating in hostilities."

The Commission also noted that there is strong evidence to suggest
that the siege on the Al-Qusayr area was imposed to "render the
conditions of life unbearable, weakening the armed groups and forcing
civilians, who were so able, to flee."

Pro-Government forces have a legal obligation to allow and facilitate
the unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief, the Commission said in
its sixth report since it began documenting violations of
international law inside Syria in August 2011.

According to the report, the anti-Government forces have committed
"war crimes, including murder, execution without due process, torture,
hostage-taking and attacking protected objects," as well as besieging
and indiscriminately shelling civilian neighbourhoods.

Anti-Government and Kurdish armed groups have recruited and used child
soldiers in hostilities, the report said.

In a statement at a press conference in Geneva, the Commission, led by
Paulo Pinheiro, urgently called for a cessation of hostilities and a
return to negotiations, leading to a political settlement.

"To elect military action in Syria will not only intensify the
suffering inside the country but will also serve to keep such a
settlement beyond our collective reach," stressed the group, which
also includes experts Karen Koning AbuZayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit
Muntarbhorn.

The Commission urged a political solution founded upon tenets of the
Geneva communiqué of 30 June 2012.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Joint Special Representative of the
UN and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi, along with other
senior UN officials, have been advocating for a so-called Geneva II
meeting, which would include representatives of Syrian parties as well
as senior United States, Russian and UN officials.

The goal of the conference would be to achieve a political solution to
the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Government
and the opposition for the full implementation of the communiqué.

The Commission of Inquiry will present this latest report to the Human
Rights Council on 16 September.Sep 11 2013 1:00PM
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