U.N. official calls to end conflict in Syria amid surging violence
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria (IICI), Paulo S. Pinheiro, said on Monday to end conflict as Syria is not safer and more Syrians are fleeing the country rather than returning amid increasing hostilities and the absence of a political settlement.
Pinheiro, chair of the IICI, called in a statement in the 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council for an immediate ceasefire in Syria, “an end to the conflict and to find an inclusive path towards a just political settlement.”
“The prospects of a political settlement for Syria appear more remote than ever. Little or no progress has been made on the key issues – security, refugees and drugs,” Pinheiro said.
He pointed out that Turkey’s airstrikes on power stations in Northeast Syria “disrupted essential services to the population and deprived nearly a million people of water for weeks.”
“Syria is not safer and many more Syrians still flee from rather than return to their country. Land owned for generations is being sold to pay smugglers for a potentially life-threatening journey to safer shores,” he said, adding that in October 2023 alone 24,000 asylum seekers reached Europe, whereas the number of voluntary returns decreased by 27 percent in 2023.
Pinheiro said 16.7 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance, which is the largest number since the start of the Syrian war.
Moreover, he added almost 30,000 children remain in camps in Northeast Syria five years after the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS), calling on all states, including Syria, to allow their return home and to ensure their reintegration into society.
He highlighted that ISIS is increasing attacks that may amount to war crimes against civilians, including women and children, as it conducted 35 attacks in the first half of January alone.
Additionally, deaths in prisons of the Syrian government have not stopped, and unlawful confiscation of civilian property, including olive harvest, torture and ill-treatment continued in detention facilities of the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, aka the Syrian National Army (SNA), according to Pinheiro.