Opposition calls for holding Assad accountable for crimes in Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Head ofHigh Negotiations Committee (HNC) Badr Jamous, stressed on Monday that it is importance to activate the principle of holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime accountable for all its crimes against the Syrians.
This came during an online event “Accountability in Syria” sponsored by the EU, Turkey, Germany, US, UK, Netherlands, France, and Canada.
The HNC is an umbrella body which was created to represent the Syrian opposition in the planned Geneva peace talks in 2016.
“There can be no sustainable peace in Syria without holding those responsible for these crimes accountable,” the HNC said, in a tweet, citing Jamous as saying.
Jamous urged the international community to achieve accountability and release detainees and the forcibly disappeared.
In addition, the SNC president affirmed the importance of implementing the United Nation Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2254 to pave the way for a new democratic Syria where human rights are guaranteed.
In December 2015, the UNSC adopted a resolution, endorsing a “Road Map for Peace Process in Syria” which calls for a ceasefire and settlement to the civil war in Syria between the Syrian government and the opposition. However, the resolution has not been achieved yet.
Jamous hailed the countries that continue to support the Syrian people, as well as the Syrian civil society organizations for their continuous efforts to reach accountability in Syria.
In late April, Jamous said that the visit of the HNC to the US aimed to discussing and finding a mechanism to put pressure on “the Syrian regime to push it towards a political process.”
On April 13, Jamous expressed the HNC’s disapproval for any “free normalization” with the Syrian government, and appealed to Arab countries to place “more pressure on it.”
Lately, the Syrian government, which has been shunned by its Arab surrounding for over a decade, witnessed Arab opening and moving towards normalization, especially after the disaster of the Feb. 6 earthquake.