Johannesburg, 9 May 2012
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation calls for the international community to show stronger political will to stop human rights abuses in Syria. The international community must ensure that President Bashar al-Assad's regime is brought under pressure to abide by international law, and that there are investigations and accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is time for the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court."A key part of a solution to the crisis in Syria must be to hold perpetrators of war crimes to account. It is unacceptable that such crimes have gone unpunished for 14 months. Addressing issues of impunity and accountability are tantamount to any reconstruction of the Syrian social fabric and long-lasting peace," says Adele Poskitt, Policy Officer at CIVICUS.
The division and lack of consensus within the international community over the crisis is prolonging violence and suffering in Syria. According to the UN, the death toll has reached 9,000 people and tens of thousands more have been displaced or fled the country.
Negotiations at the UN Security Council to agree on a humanitarian military intervention and adequate sanctions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter have stalled as the Chinese and Russian governments have prevented the unanimous and decisive action needed to end the crisis, further encouraging the Damascus government. The UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly called upon the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia, UK and USA - to reach consensus to bring peace and relief to Syrians and to find a political outcome to the crisis.
In April 2012, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, as the joint special envoy of the UN and the League of Arab States, negotiated a six-point peace plan to halt the violence. The peace process involves establishing a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all heavy weapons and artillery, the granting of humanitarian access to targeted areas, the release of all arbitrarily detained persons and the eventual initiation of a Syrian-led dialogue between the government and the opposition for a smooth political transition.
Following the peace negotiations, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2042 on 14 April 2012 creating the UN Mission to Syria (UNSMIS). This resolution authorised a team of 30 unarmed UN observers to monitor compliance with the agreed ceasefire and Annan's peace plan. The Security Council subsequently adopted a further resolution sending a total of 300 UN observers over an initial period 90 days for the same purposes.
"But these resolutions are insufficient" says Netsanet Belay, Policy and Research Director of CIVICUS. "They remain narrow both in scope and effects, as they exclude internationally imposed sanctions or any type of external interventions in a context where violence remains problematic."
The ceasefire has been compromised in many parts of Syria as violence continues despite the presence of UN observers, particularly in areas near the Turkish border, and Idlib and Homs in Syria. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said President Bashar al-Assad's continued crackdown on protests had reached an "intolerable stage" and the UN must speed up a response, while on 8 May Kofi Annan reported that, "the levels of violence and abuses are unacceptable."
Concerns have grown over whether the current peace plan has the capacity to ensure effective compliance. Despite the presence of the UN observers the Syrian government continues to commit human rights abuses against its own population. Recent human rights reports reveal that attacks on civilians are continuing. Human rights activists, including Mazen Darwish, President of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, are being arrested, brutally interrogated and thrown in jail without fair trial. Journalists, aid workers and civil society organisations report countless acts of violence and torture against protestors and other civilians, while the UN Commission of Inquiry described the violence in its reports as amounting to crimes against humanity.
CIVICUS therefore urges the UN Security Council to refer the case of Syria to the International Criminal Court and prompt urgent investigation and prosecution of Syrian officials responsible for of the sustained systematic and gross violation of human rights of Syrian citizens. The UN Security Council should immediately agree on a legally binding resolution that holds the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to account and ends impunity in Syria.