Approaching 11th year of Syrian conflict OHCHR urges to mobilize efforts
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet said that with the 11th year of violence and conflict in Syria, efforts for truth, justice and compensating the victims must be continued and intensified.
“The spiral of violence that turned to an armed conflict has left hundreds of thousands Syrians dead, millions displaced both within and outside the country,” Bachelet said.
“There have been repeated attempts to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court but with such efforts stalled, it remains vital that national courts continue to conduct fair, public and transparent trials,” she added.
Bachelet stressed the necessity to handle the issue of the missing and disappeared, which has become a source of fear in Syria, even before 2011.
“Enforced disappearance is a continuous crime that has an appalling impact on the individual whose fate is unknown and on their family, causing continuing trauma for them.”
With the remembrance of this “tragic milestone,” Bachelet urged all parties to the conflict, and those States with influence over them, to halt arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances, and ensured that those being arbitrarily detained are immediately released.
She also “reminded” the Syrian Government of its obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law to investigate violations, among them enforced disappearances, and to ensure those responsible are held accountable.
Bachelet insisted the states to mobilize the political will needed to address the issue of missing people, including the efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict.