UN investigators have added more names to a secret list of Syrians suspected of committing war crimes during the 18-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, and warned on Monday more foreign Islamist militants were fighting there. The human rights investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, said they had gathered "a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence" as Syrian government forces conduct daily air strikes and shelling in indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.
They urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, an appeal backed by Britain and France. But diplomats noted this would require acceptance by Russia and China, which have blocked all previous efforts to condemn Syria or start proceedings at the UN war crimes court.
"Gross human rights violations have grown in number, in pace and in scale," Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. "There is no statute of limitations on these crimes." He did not say if any Syrian rebels were among the names on the list, which updated a confidential one his independent team submitted to UN rights chief Navi Pillay in February.
Pinheiro presented the team's latest report, issued a month ago, saying Syrian government forces and allied militia had committed war crimes including murder and torture of civilians in what appeared to be a state-directed policy. More than 20,000 people have been killed in the conflict, 1.2 million are uprooted within Syria and more than 250,000 have fled abroad, the United Nations says.
Pinheiro reported an "increasing and alarming presence of foreign elements, including Jihadist militants," in Syria, some joining the rebels, others operating independently. They tended to radicalise the rebels, who have also committed war crimes, the Brazilian expert said. "The signal of their presence is basically the explosions, the attacks, that have been registered," Pinheiro later told a news conference.
Comments
Comments are closed.