Delivered by
Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
At
59th Session of the Human Rights Council
Mr. President, Excellences,
Good afternoon, it is a pleasure to brief you today. It is just over six months ago that the world watched with surprise and hope as the previous government of Syria collapsed and the former president fled the country.
Since we last reported to this council in March, we have continued our dialogue and cooperation with the interim government, which has granted our team of investigators access to different parts of the country.
In recent weeks, important steps to deal with past violations have been taken, particularly the establishment in May of the National Transitional Justice Authority and the National Authority for Missing Persons. They will be expected to help reveal the fate of the more than 100,000 Syrians estimated to have been forcibly disappeared or gone missing; to expose the truth about systematic violations like arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, and about widespread attacks which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and maimed millions during hostilities. And they will be expected to provide much-needed support and redress to survivors, victims and their relatives. All will be seeking reforms that guarantee non-repetition. This is a very tall order for any government to take on.
In this, they can count on the impressive expertise of Syria’s many human rights organizations and defenders, committed to advancing human rights for all its people.
They should also be able to count on international support.
Another challenge the interim authorities have been dealing with from day one is the demobilization of armed groups and, where possible, their integration into a new national army. Such a process will require a reform and vetting programme that encompasses the armed forces, the security services and the police.
The security vacuum left after the dismissal of the armed forces and security services, coupled with a lack of clarity on the new framework for justice, contributed to an atmosphere where victims of past crimes and violations attempted to take the law into their own hands and settle scores.
The retaliatory attacks witnessed in the coast in March, and seen on a smaller scale in other parts of the country, are in part a response to five decades of systematic crimes perpetrated by security forces with impunity which affected all Syrians. They were further inflamed by actions taken by previous successive Assad-led governments that pitted communities against one another.
More recently, sectarian fault lines have also been fueled by widespread hate speech and incitement against Alawis, off and online, including in posts with false information reportedly often originating from abroad.
In the early days of the transition, the interim authorities called for national unity and for embracing all Syrians in their diversity. This will need to be translated into concrete policies to put an end to Syria’s entrenched cycles of violence and revenge, in a context where heightened tensions and sectarian divisions have been reignited.
We have documented revenge attacks across several governorates, including killings in the villages of Fahil and Maryameen, Anz and Arzeh in Hama and Homs that occurred in late January. Men who had reportedly handed over their weapons through the “settlement” disarmament process were ill-treated and executed. State security forces appeared unable to protect them, despite clear warning signs.
Six weeks after these events, and over the course of four days in early March, hundreds of Alawi civilians were killed and abused in more than 40 different locations in the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartous as well as in Hama and Homs governorates. The Commission documented violations in 16 such locations. These killings followed large-scale planned simultaneous attacks by “remnants” of the former government’s forces, besieging several locations along the coast, which resulted in the killings of over 200 members of the interim government’s security forces. The attacks by the “remnants” were followed by widespread calls for a general mobilization on social media and by local mosques a multiple governorates.
During our team’s latest visit to Syria last week, we appreciated the unfettered access granted by the government to the coast, including to several locations where killings and looting had occurred. We met with a number of civil and security authorities in the area, eyewitnesses and victims’ families.
In addition, we have collected hundreds of first hand-accounts by survivors of these events. People from Tartus, Latakia and Hama governorates revealed in detail how residential areas were raided by large groups of armed men, many of them members of factions now affiliated with the State. They told us how the assailants detained, ill-treated and executed civilians. They looted houses, desecrated religious artefacts and dehumanized residents. Verified footage shows armed men killing Alawi civilians in broad daylight. They stamped on and ran over dead bodies. They burned bodies on the street while celebrating. Such disturbing images circulated widely on social media.
While older people, women and children were in some instances also killed, these attacks primarily targeted Alawi men and were clearly fuelled by sectarian slurs and hate speech. Questions remain around the speed of the response by the General Security to contain the situation.
We welcome the interim authorities’ quick action to establish a National Inquiry to investigate these violations and an additional High-Level Committee to Maintain Civil Peace. The interim government has also informed that dozens of alleged perpetrators have since been arrested.
Protection of civilians is essential to prevent further violations and crimes. In our dialogue with the authorities on this, we welcomed the commitment of President al-Sharaa to hold those responsible accountable, take steps to avoid recurrence of violations and restore confidence for State institutions amongst the affected communities.
We have been informed by the interim authorities about plans to reinforce instructions and training for all its security forces to protect civilians, as well as their increasing efforts to ensure that known perpetrators of violations are excluded from their ranks through adequate vetting processes. The international community should stand ready to respond to requests by the Syrian interim government for assistance aimed at increasing its capacity to protect vulnerable communities against revenge attacks.
Tens of thousands of Alawis have already been displaced from their hometowns and villages in Latakia, Tartus, Homs and Hama and among them, over 40,000 crossed into Lebanon. Others are considering fleeing but lack the means to do so. Decisive action is needed to restore protection and re-build trust among minority communities, and to end the risk of a cycle of revenge and retaliatory violence.
Disturbingly, reports continue to circulate of ongoing killings and arbitrary arrests of members of the Alawi community, as well as the confiscation of the property of those who fled the March violence.
The Commission has also documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six Alawi women this spring in several Syrian governorates; the whereabouts of at least two of these women remain unknown, while the Commission has received credible reports of more abductions. Investigations into some of these incidents were opened by the interim authorities.
In late April, residential areas of Jaramana and Sahnaya near Damascus were attacked by armed men who raided buildings and detained residents. These attacks appear to have followed the dissemination of an inflammatory audio recording of unknown origin. Subsequent clashes that erupted between General Security and Druze militias reportedly led to dozens of casualties, including summary executions of unarmed civilians and looting and burning of homes and vehicles. Violence then expanded to Sweida, jeopardizing the fragile status quo between the interim authorities and local armed factions, as well as amongst Druze militias there.
This amplified fears of further violence targeting other communities which further deepened last week.
Last Sunday, an attacker opened fire during a service in a Greek orthodox church in Damascus, and then detonated an explosive vest, killing 25 worshippers and injuring some 60 others. The Syrian interim authorities attributed this heinous attack to ISIL affiliates. Attacks on places of worship are outrageous and unacceptable. The authorities must ensure the protection of places of worship and threatened communities and ensure that perpetrators and enablers are held accountable.
Excellences,
The Syrian conflict has had no shortage of internal challenges and grievances, many of which were made worse by foreign interventions.
Over the last weeks, Israel conducted a wave of airstrikes in and around Damascus, including near the presidential palace, and targeted military bases and weapons depots in Daraa, Hama, Tartous and Latakia as part of its sustained military campaign in Syria. The strikes killed a number of civilians and severely undermined Syria’s military capacity. Israeli strikes in Dara’a on 18 March reportedly killed three civilians and injured at least 19 others in an attack that Israel said was aimed at destroying military capacities that threatened it.
Civilian casualties were also reported in the context of IDF operations in the UNDOF-monitored buffer zone in Quneitra and southwestern Daraa; Israeli artillery fire was used in confrontations with local armed men. The IDF has allegedly issued displacement orders and prevented local communities from accessing their homes and lands, depriving them of their livelihoods.
These actions raise serious concerns of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The UN Secretary-General has further stated that such violations of Syria’s sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, and independence risk triggering wider regional escalation, and called on all parties to commit to the protection of civilians and the integrity of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement.
In Northeast Syria, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) declared its intent to unilaterally dissolve and disarm in Türkiye, easing barriers to an agreement between the interim government and the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Meanwhile, over 32,000 men, women and children continue to be deprived of their liberty in overcrowded prisons and camps in North-East Syria in appalling conditions. While more than 5,000 Iraqis have been repatriated from the camps this year, progress in repatriating or releasing other foreigners or Syrians from the camps is slow, with fewer than 50 people returning home so far this year despite the urgency: More than 20,000 children still held there await the end of their ordeal. These children were just 11 years old or younger at the fall of Baghuz in March 2019, and have been deprived of their most fundamental rights ever since. As we have repeated on many occasions to this Council, this situation must be ended.
Worryingly, recent reports signal a reemergence of ISIL cells in Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, and Al-Hasakah, with attacks plotted against a variety of targets. In May, Islamic State militants reportedly launched deadly attacks on interim government forces and U.S.-backed elements in Southern Syria, marking its first coordinated operations in the post-Assad era.
Once more we urge States whose nationals remain held in the northeast to now engage with the interim authorities to repatriate them. The new Syrian governance offers opportunities for overcoming their old excuses for inaction.
Excellences,
It has been heartening to see more than 2 million Syrians returning home since December, including nearly 600,000 from neighboring countries and just under 1.5 million IDPs. For many of the over 7 million Syrians who remain displaced, massive property-related challenges will need to be tackled in the wake of industrial-scale destruction, pillage and confiscation of homes and lands. The broken judicial and record-keeping system inherited from successive governments makes reclaiming homes from secondary occupants difficult, sometimes leading to violence and communal tensions.
The extremely complex Syrian political transition is happening at a time when humanitarian needs are at their highest since 2011. Despite the recent encouraging steps towards lifting of sectoral sanctions and opening the country to new investments, nearly 16.5 million Syrians remain in need of humanitarian assistance, including nearly 3 million people facing severe food insecurity.
The interim authorities’ repeated commitments to protect the rights of everyone and all communities in Syria without discrimination of any kind are encouraging. They should be met with the necessary support from the international community.
Let me end with a plea to all States gathered here to deepen your engagement on the protection of human rights in Syria.
Thank you.