Attachments
Mr. President,
Excellences,
This is the first time I address this assembly since the removal of the government led by former President Assad in December.
This development marks a new beginning for the Syrian people, who have suffered extreme violence and atrocities over the past 14 years, and more.
We are pleased that the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asaad Hassan al Shaibani, in his remarks here last month stated that “after the liberation of Syria, the new Syrian government allowed the UN Commission of Inquiry established by this Council to enter Syria after the former regime prevented it”. Effectively, the caretaker government granted us prompt access to Syria, providing opportunities for preliminary discussions with the new authorities on a number of human rights issues. We look forward to engaging further with the authorities to discuss cooperation and regular access to Syria for our work later this week.
Since December, the Commission has visited former Government detention facilities in Damascus and Rural Damascus, including Sednaya military prison, Air Force Intelligence Mezzeh Airport Branch, and the Military Intelligence “Palestine” Branch 235, where we had previously documented acts of torture and summary executions. We met with victims, witnesses and civil society actors vigorously promoting human rights, justice and peace. We also discussed measures to prevent future violations and the need to protect evidence, including possible mass grave sites, for future truth and accountability efforts, with the new Syrian authorities and other actors.
These visits impressed upon us the strength and resilience of the Syrian people, who are already hard at work to pave the way for more of their fellow citizens to return home in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner.
Thousands of prisoners were released in early December. They critically need physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as support to address the legal effects of arbitrary measures taken against them and their families, including with respect to their property.
What we saw during our on-site visits matches our previous findings of detention-related violations by the former government, most recently in our January report “Web of Agony”, which provides our most comprehensive analysis to date. Likewise, testimony from recently released detention survivors confirms that the previous government quashed dissent in ways amounting to crimes against humanity.
In Syria, we also met with many families whose missing loved ones were not among the prisoners released in December.
They now want the truth about their fate, and they want justice. The clarification of the fates of the tens of thousands who remain disappeared will require a large-scale effort led by the caretaker authorities along with technical support from human rights and humanitarian entities, including Syrian civil society and family associations and the IIMP and the ICRC. We stand ready to assist those efforts, including by sharing the relevant data we have gathered since 2011, and reiterate the importance of preserving all related evidence and information that can aid in this regard.
We also met with communities affected by years of gross violations in Rural Damascus, such as in Douma, Daraya and Zabadani. We were impressed by their dignity and eagerness to tell the world about years of widespread arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, unlawful attacks on residential areas, starvation and other cruel restrictions imposed during sieges, and forcible displacement and discrimination by the former government.
The extent of destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure that occurred during and after hostilities is shocking, as detailed in our December Conference Room Paper “Pillage and Plunder: Unlawful appropriation and destruction of properties of refugees and IDPs in Syria”. Massive reconstruction will be needed, supported by the international community.
Syrians we met consistently called for justice and accountability as crucial for healing the wounds of the conflict, through a range of actions – not only criminal proceedings against high-level perpetrators, but also broader measures to ensure the right to truth, reparation and non-repetition of mass atrocities.
Today, Syria’s economic and humanitarian situation remains catastrophic while humanitarian funding is dwindling. Economic despair is known to fuel violence. We urgently call for an end to all sectoral sanctions and the removal of other barriers to recovery and reconstruction.
Excellences,
Ending ongoing violence will also require a complete nationwide ceasefire, the disarming and reintegration of armed groups, securing public order, and ending the presence of foreign militaries on Syrian territory. Syrians are calling for the speedy restoration of their civil documentation, for equal access to basic services such as education and health care, for freedom of expression and association, and for the ability to challenge arbitrary restrictions or decisions.
We take note of the Constitutional Declaration announced by the authorities in Damascus on 13 March as the country’s fundamental law for the upcoming five years. In addition to the references on basic human rights and to general provisions on transitional justice, the Declaration states that “all rights and freedoms set out in international human rights treaties, covenants and agreements that the Syrian Arab Republic has ratified will form an inseparable part of the Constitutional declaration.” Much will depend on how these provisions of the constitutional text are implemented and respected across the country.
It is worrying that violence and hostilities continue in several parts of the country, risking a return to a more widespread conflict.
Recent extreme violence saw disturbing reports of hundreds of civilian deaths in villages, towns and areas in the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, following coordinated attacks on security personnel. Eyewitnesses of the recent violence in the coastal areas described how they saw their family members and neighbours shot and killed in front of them, in what appears to be retaliatory attacks aimed at former government officials and members of the Alawite community.
Such acts were also accompanied with looting and destruction of property. The violence triggered displacement of civilians.
It could never have been expected that the wounds inflicted over decades of dictatorship and rampant human rights violations and abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity would heal quickly – and as we saw last week, Syria’s future will be determined by how the authorities and the Syrian people deal with both past and recent violations.
Guarantees of non-repetition and accountability are key requests from all victims and survivors, as the Syrian people begin to attain the rights and freedoms that inspired those who took to the streets in 2011.
We note the urgent steps taken by the caretaker authorities, including the establishment of an independent inquiry into these recent events. We hope to meet soon in Damascus with this commission which will need to operate without interference, maintain its independence and integrity, and present its findings comprehensively to the government and the Syrian public.
Our investigation into these incidents are ongoing, in accordance with our regular mandate, and our findings will be shared with the caretaker government and presented to this Council in future reporting. While verifying digital information, including videos that we have authenticated, we have also established that some other videos circulating online, and purporting to show violations committed during these events, in fact relate to events dating from years ago or that took place in other countries and conflicts. A large amount of incendiary and hateful speech is circulating online in relation to the recent violence, which risks fuelling further tensions and violence.
As you can see in the report we present to the Council today, the situation in South Syria remains volatile with increased attacks and incursions carried out by Israel since 9 December, greatly destabilising the country as it attempts to heal. Israeli evacuation orders have displaced civilians in rural Quneitra, seemingly without any imperative military reason and extending well beyond the lines agreed to in the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement. Civilians protesting against this were reportedly shot by the IDF, and civilian casualties were also reported following Israeli airstrikes on former government military sites.
Further north, ISIL is reportedly increasing activities in central and Eastern Syria and thousands of people allegedly affiliated with ISIL remain held in SDF custody. We continue to urge member states to repatriate their nationals from northeast Syria and to bring to justice those among them responsible for crimes.
We have taken note of last week’s agreement between the caretaker authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in which they agreed not only to a nationwide ceasefire, but also to guarantee the rights of all Syrians in political representation and participation going forward.
For years, northeast Syria has witnessed hostilities between Syrian National Army forces and the SDF. We have been investigating several attacks in the area in recent months that reportedly led to civilian casualties and impacted electricity and water supplies to the region, as well as reports of arbitrary detention. Following reports of renewed attacks even after the agreement was concluded last week, we call for swift military de-escalation, adequate provision of services to civilians and the return of IDPs to their homes and lands.
Mr. President,
The caretaker authorities and future Syrian authorities have an opportunity to chart a new path and ensure that the horrors of the past and of the last few weeks are never repeated, and to rebuild trust in a manner that respects the beauty and variety of Syrian society. The Syrian people must decide what steps to take. These could take many forms, including truth telling, searching for the disappeared, reforms, and accountability processes.
The Commission will continue to call for respect for human rights and all forms of justice in solidarity with the Syrian people.
I thank you.