Today, Monday 17 September 2012, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), in collaboration with the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies (DCHRS), the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN), and the Syrian Organization for Human Rights (Sawaseya) delivered an oral intervention during the discussion of the recent report of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria at the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council.
The intervention welcomed the recent report, which indicated that alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and other major violations to international human rights and humanitarian laws may have been committed by parties to the conflict in Syria. It further asked that the Commission’s mandate be extended with the purpose of collecting further evidence, in order to ensure that individuals responsible for alleged international crimes be held accountable.
Despite dozens of international initiatives on Syria, the intervention noted that “until now, the international community continues to fail to protect the civilian population from brutal abuses and witnesses hundreds of innocent Syrian citizens brutally murdered on a daily basis, as well as despicable abuses which have become customary.” It further added that the Council has numerously failed to transmit all evidence gathered by the COI to the Security Council and explicitly and strongly call on the Security Council to request the International Criminal Court (ICC) start investigations into War Crimes and Crimes against humanity in Syria. The intervention reiterated the call for the situation to be referred to the ICC.
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