The war in Syria has raged for almost six years. Reports of atrocities abound from reliable press sources. The one body that theoretically could do something about it, The United Nations sat on the wayside preferring instead to focus its microscope on Israel looking for “human rights violations.”
It seems they may have temporarily removed the microscope from their eyes and in clear daylight they can see the rampant human right violations and war crimes that really happened in Syria.
In a 193 nation General Assembly vote, 105 voted in favor of a War crimes panel, 15 voted against and 52 abstained. This panel will gather evidence of the war crimes that took place in Syria. This is the first step toward prosecuting the perpetrators of these atrocities.
The UN Inquiry Commission has already submitted reports of the atrocities that killed over 310,000 people in Syria. The new War Crimes Panel will work closely with the commission and help gather more and more evidence. Civil society groups also have compiled evidence, videos and witnesses which they hope will one day be used in court against the perpetrators.
Liechtenstein was the country that sponsored the resolution along with 58 other countries including the U.S., Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Liechtenstein hopes that this measure will fill the vacuum left by the Security Council’s failing to ensure that the perpetrators of these war crimes will be brought to justice.
Previously, Russia and China blocked an Inquiry Council request that the International Criminal Court begin investigating the war crimes in Syria. Russia, Syria’s #1 ally blocked many resolutions against Syria since 2011 the last being vetoing the 7 day cease fire earlier this month.
Russia naturally voted against this too, along with Iran and China. Syria’s Ambassador Bahsar Jafaari said: “flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a UN member-state.”
It seems to Jafaari that being a member of the U.N. is a license to carry out atrocities, Human rights violations and other war crimes. How dare the U.N. start up with a “member state”!
The War Crimes Panel will establish an “international, impartial and independent mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the most serious crimes.” It will also “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations and abuses and prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings,” says the draft text.
Balkees Jarrah, a senior counsel at Human Rights Watch said: “By establishing the investigative mechanism, the General Assembly is helping pave the road to accountability after years of unchecked atrocities. Perpetrators now know that evidence of their misdeeds will be collected to hasten the day when they find themselves in the dock.”
According to the AFP, Liechtenstein's Ambassador Christina Wenaweser said: “We are finally taking one meaningful step to meet the expectations that we have failed for such a long time.”
Let’s hope this first step will lead to real justice and stop the atrocities and their perpetrators.