35/15 Summary of the high-level panel discussion on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

GE.17-07732(E)

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Human Rights Council Thirty-fifth session

6-23 June 2017

Agenda items 2 and 4

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of

the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention

Summary of the high-level panel discussion on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic*

Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights

Summary

In its resolution 33/23, the Human Rights Council decided to convene a high-level

panel discussion on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic during its

thirty-fourth session, in consultation with the Independent International Commission of

Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, including on the issue of enforced disappearances and

arbitrary detention, and the need for accountability for related violations and abuses,

featuring witness testimony and Syrian voices. Also in that resolution, the Council

requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to

prepare a report on the high-level discussion. The present report was prepared pursuant to

that request.

* The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments.

United Nations A/HRC/35/15

Introduction

1. Pursuant to its resolution 33/23, the Human Rights Council held a high-level panel

on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic on 14 March 2017, during its

thirty-fourth session. The objectives of the discussion included increasing the visibility of

violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law

committed by all parties to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, with a particular focus

on the issue of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and torture in detention and enforced

disappearances since 2011, and suggesting ways to address those issues and to bring

alleged perpetrators to account.

2. The panel was chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council, Joaquín

Alexander Maza Martelli. Opening statements were delivered by the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights, the Chair of the Independent International Commission

of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the United Nations Regional Humanitarian

Coordinator for the Syrian Crisis.

3. The panel was moderated by senior CNN international correspondent Arwa Damon

and composed of the Executive Director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights, Fadel

Abdul Ghani; a lawyer actively engaged with the Syrian Women’s Network, Joumana Seif;

the former Vice-President of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and

Opposition Forces, former detainee and activist, Noura Aljizawi; co-founder of Raqqa is

Being Slaughtered Silently and researcher on extremist groups in the Middle East, Sarmad

al-Jilane; and a lawyer, free speech advocate and Director of the Syrian Centre for Media

and Freedom of Expression, also a former detainee, Mazen Darwish.

II. Opening statements

4. In his opening statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

reminded participants that countless people in the Syrian Arab Republic had been subjected

to arbitrary detention, torture, abduction and enforced disappearance. The Office of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Commission of

Inquiry had continued to be denied access to the country and no international human rights

observers had been admitted to places where, very probably, tens of thousands of people

were being held and where torture was taking place. The High Commissioner highlighted

that the conflict had begun with the detention and torture by security officials of a group of

children in Daraa who had daubed anti-government graffiti on a school wall. As protests

had swelled, the Government had attacked and waged war on its own people, spawning

rebel movements, fuelling violent extremism and setting the stage for a regional proxy war.

The High Commissioner stated that the entire country had become a torture chamber, a

place of savage horror and absolute injustice. He noted that, as it entered its seventh year,

the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic was the worst man-made disaster the world had

seen since the Second World War, and that the desperate appeals of civilians in Aleppo in

2016 had had little or no impact on global leaders, whose influence could help put an end to

the fighting.

5. The High Commissioner added that atrocities committed against the Yazidi

community by the extremist group known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL),

including the abduction and sale of girls and women as sexual slaves, had not generated

swift, decisive action to ensure accountability. Vetoes had repeatedly pushed back hope for

an end to that senseless carnage and for referral of alleged international crimes to the

International Criminal Court. The High Commissioner noted that the adoption, in

December 2016, of General Assembly resolution 71/248 establishing the International,

Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of

Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in

the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 had been a significant step forward. He added

that OHCHR was moving as fast as possible to set up the International Impartial and

Independent Mechanism, which would work alongside the Commission of Inquiry to

collect and analyse evidence and prepare detailed files on individual suspects with a view to

building a foundation from which to initiate criminal proceedings against individual

perpetrators. The High Commissioner stressed that ensuring accountability, establishing the

truth and providing reparations must happen if the Syrian people were ever to find

reconciliation and peace.

6. Detention remained a central issue for many in the Syrian Arab Republic, one that

could determine the fate of any political agreement. The international community had to

support the struggle of Syrian families to know the truth. The High Commissioner ended

his statement by urging all parties to end torture, stop executions and cease unfair trials by

special and ad hoc courts. He called upon humanitarian actors and international monitors to

be given access to all detention centres. He urged all parties holding detainees or captives to

release them or at least disclose the names and localities of those in detention and the place

of burial of those who had died.

7. In his opening statement, the Chair of the Commission of Inquiry reminded those

present that the Human Rights Council had gathered to hear directly from witnesses and

victims of the conflict and to draw attention to the need for accountability for violations and

abuses committed during the conflict, including enforced disappearances and cases of

arbitrary detention. He stressed that it was a privilege to hear from some victims directly, as

many thousands of others could not be heard; too many voices had been silenced by

enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention or death. Enforced disappearance in particular

left families in painful suspense, uncertain of the fate of loved ones and unable to find

closure. The Chair noted that the Commission of Inquiry had investigated and produced

over 20 reports and special thematic papers documenting the suffering of the Syrian people

since 2011. He referred to the report of February 2016, in which the Commission of Inquiry

concluded that the massive number of detainees who had died suggested that the

Government was responsible for acts that amounted to extermination, a crime against

humanity. Meanwhile, armed groups ill-treated and executed captives, some of whom died

after being tortured. ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusrah, both of which had been designated terrorist

groups, had used makeshift courts to execute prisoners. ISIL had tortured and executed

detainees, including journalists and activists.

8. The Chair added that, in each of its reports, the Commission of Inquiry had called

for a political solution that would ensure credible and comprehensive accountability, and

had repeatedly urged the Security Council to either refer the situation in the Syrian Arab

Republic to the International Criminal Court or create an ad hoc tribunal. The Commission

of Inquiry therefore welcomed continued efforts to ensure accountability, reiterated its

readiness to cooperate with the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism and

welcomed the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of that resolution. The

Commission of Inquiry would continue to make recommendations to Member States and to

all parties to the conflict to protect and fulfil the human rights of the Syrian people,

including by ensuring a path to justice for victims.

9. In his opening statement, the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syrian

Crisis reminded participants that 13.5 million Syrians required protection and assistance,

noting that such needs had reached unprecedented levels of complexity, scale and severity.

Since 2011, more than half of all Syrians had been forced to flee their homes and 6.3

million of them had been internally displaced.

10. The protection of civilians was a significant concern across all governorates. As at

the end of January 2017, nearly 650,000 people had been living in 13 areas under siege,

deprived of regular assistance and unable to move freely. Indiscriminate attacks against

civilians and civilian infrastructure, including schools and medical facilities, by all parties

to the conflict had been extensively documented. The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator

highlighted that in 2016 the United Nations had verified 38 attacks on education facilities

and personnel, while from January to December 2016 there had been 338 attacks on

hospitals and health centres during which dozens of health-care workers had been killed.

11. While the protection of civilians had been a central concern in all humanitarian

operations in the Syrian Arab Republic, preventing and responding to violations of

international human rights law and international humanitarian law in such a context had

been uniquely challenging. Humanitarian agencies were too often unable to deliver life-

saving assistance and protection services in a timely and sustained basis to the 4.7 million

people who lived in besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including the 1.3 million people in

areas controlled by ISIL. The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator regretted that in

February 2017 not a single inter-agency cross-line convoy of the 20 requested had been

granted access since the establishment of the International Syria Support Group.

12. The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator said he had been appalled by reports from

the Commission of Inquiry, OHCHR and others about murders and cases of arbitrary

deprivation of liberty, torture and inhuman treatment perpetrated by all sides. He stressed

that neutral and impartial international humanitarian agencies, such as the International

Committee of the Red Cross, had to be granted immediate and unhindered access to

detainees and detention facilities in order to prevent further abuses, arbitrary detentions and

enforced disappearances.

13. He highlighted serious concerns regarding Syrians involved in humanitarian

activities inside the Syrian Arab Republic. In 2016, as part of the “whole-of-Syria”

approach, humanitarian partners had reached a combined 11.2 million people in the Syrian

Arab Republic with multisectoral assistance. Cross-border assistance from Jordan and

Turkey had continued to represent a core element of the humanitarian response. The bulk of

humanitarian assistance had been provided by a wide array of non-governmental partners.

Thousands of Syrians working for national or international non-governmental organizations

(NGOs), often in partnership with the United Nations, had been operating in areas under

opposition control and had been playing a critical role, not only in providing assistance but

also in delivering services such as health and education. They had also suffered hundreds of

casualties in the process. At least 66 humanitarian workers had been killed and 114 had

been wounded in the first nine months of 2016 alone. The Regional Humanitarian

Coordinator stressed that the safety, well-being and freedom of humanitarian workers and

of medical and civil defence staff needed to be guaranteed. He regretted the persistence of

arbitrary arrests of humanitarian workers suspected of supporting armed groups, as reported

by the Commission of Inquiry. He noted that during the evacuation of eastern Aleppo at

least three humanitarian workers had reportedly been arrested. In 2015 and 2016, 18

humanitarian workers had been arrested in the Syrian Arab Republic. One Syrian staff

member of the United Nations Development Programme remained in detention and 27 staff

members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the

Near East had been detained or had gone missing. While the United Nations had secured

the release of many of its staff members, the ongoing arrest and detention of personnel was

a matter of great concern and indicative of the protection risks that all humanitarian

workers faced in the Syrian Arab Republic.

14. The Regional Humanitarian Coordinator urged Member States and United Nations

agencies to consider how they could ensure the safety, security, freedom from arbitrary

detention and well-being of humanitarian personnel. Attacks that killed or injured aid

workers had to cease immediately. It was also vital for the future of the Syrian Arab

Republic, to retain, protect and capitalize on the significant human capacity that had

developed over the previous six years through the work of humanitarian organizations.

III. Contribution of the panellists

15. In her introductory remarks as moderator of the panel, Ms. Damon said that what

was most shocking about the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic was that it was not

shocking enough to galvanize into action those who had the power and capability to put

their own agendas aside and simply stop the violence. She recalled the very first reports of

schoolboys detained and tortured for spray-painting anti-government graffiti, the endless

images of victims of barrel bombs, the crucifixions carried out by ISIL, the murders and the

pillaging, the image of Aylan Kurdi lying on the beach or of little Omran in Aleppo,

covered in grey dust and wiping blood off his face with his tiny hand, the countless other

images of victims whose names were unknown, whose cries were listened to but not really

heard. Ms. Damon highlighted that, from the outset, the conflict in the Syrian Arab

Republic had been and continued to be arguably the best documented war ever, largely

thanks to the work of brave activists and citizen journalists.

16. In preparing for the panel, Ms. Damon had searched through her footage from 2011

for anything, any story that might have changed the course of the war, but found nothing.

One of the first stories she had covered in Syrian Arab Republic was that of a woman in

Damascus documenting human rights violations who had said that it was her responsibility

to make the country better. Because of her work, the woman had been detained for 48 hours

before being released thanks to her family’s connections. Those 48 hours were enough for

her to conclude that “they do not treat prisoners like human beings”.

17. Ms. Damon added that other people she later interviewed had asked her: “Have you

ever been in a situation where you wished you were dead? Where death would be a greater

mercy than the pain inflicted on you?” Survivors had described torture techniques that

epitomized how vile humans could be and that included forcing people into a tire while

beating or burning the soles of their feet, hanging people until their arms were ripped from

their sockets, inflicting electrocutions and carrying out rapes that sometimes involved

sodomy. Many of those who had survived detention were ghosts of what they had once

been and needed support. Ms. Damon said she had interviewed countless people who had

not known where their loved ones were, had assumed they were dead, yet had painfully

clung to the hope that they might still be alive. She spoke of a woman she had met in

Greece who had spent years trawling detention facilities, looking for her husband in vain;

she had eventually given up and decided to take the route to Europe with her daughters.

18. Ms. Damon said that the size and scale of the detention issue in the Syrian Arab

Republic was arguably unprecedented in modern history. A lot of responsibility lay with

the Government and its backers, but most of the players’ hands were drenched in blood and

what was perhaps more chilling was that the international community had not even begun

to scratch the surface of the crimes committed in the Syrian Arab Republic. She noted that

the most recent report of Amnesty International on mass hangings in Sadnaya prison was

but the latest example. She ended by emphasizing that the families of the missing needed

the support of the international community, and that there needed to be accountability for

violations of international human rights law. Concrete steps were required to show Syrians

that the international community would not continue to fail them. The tragedy of the Syrian

Arab Republic was that the international community knew, but did nothing. She saluted the

panellists for having the courage not to be silenced.

19. In his intervention, Mr. Abdul Ghani recalled the sixth anniversary of the popular

action for democracy and change in the Syrian Arab Republic and noted that 106,000

persons were still being detained, 92,000 of whom by the Government. Of those detained,

80 per cent had been made to disappear. Some 13,100 persons had died as a result of

torture. That data had been gathered over six years thanks to daily, meticulous work and

despite unprecedented challenges, including insecurity and the risk of being arrested.

Torture was systematic and many deaths in detention had resulted from poor conditions or

the lack of medical care, as highlighted by the Commission of Inquiry in its report “Out of

sight, out of mind: deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic”, issued in 2016. Mr.

Abdul Ghani noted that his organization had documented some 46 torture techniques and

continued to document cases on a monthly basis. Other parties, such as the Al-Qaida

affiliate Jabhat al-Nusrah, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), armed opposition

groups and ISIL, had started replicating those techniques. According to Mr. Abdul Ghani,

Jabhat al-Nusrah was holding 1,600 people in captivity, ISIL 7,400, armed opposition

groups 2,600 and YPG 2,100.

20. Mr. Abdul Ghani highlighted that detention could not be tackled without addressing

the entire conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic. He noted that, despite the Astana ceasefire

agreement, casualties continued to be documented, with 780 people killed in January and

876 in February. Cases of arbitrary arrest and torture continued, with 390 such cases

recorded by the Syrian Network for Human Rights in January and 720 in February.

International human rights law and international humanitarian law had been completely

flouted and marginalized, and while three resolutions on detention in the Syrian Arab

Republic had been adopted there had been no progress on the issue.

21. In conclusion, Mr. Abdul Ghani stated that, despite the situation, some achievements

could be made. Imposing harsher sanctions on States sponsoring the Syrian regime would

have a significant effect.

22. Ms. Seif explained how her life and that of her family had been affected by arbitrary

arrests and detention. In 1980, her uncle had disappeared after being snatched by security

forces from his bed in front of his mother, his wife and his 1-year-old daughter Nour. The

life of the family had been one of waiting. In the meantime, Ms. Seif’s grandmother had

passed away. Nour had only learned of her father’s fate when she turned 20, when a high-

ranking officer informed her that he had been executed in Tadmor prison many years

earlier. In August 1996, Nour’s brother, who was 21, disappeared and his whereabouts

remained unknown. Ms. Seif’s father, then a member of parliament, had been working on

uncovering corruption but had decided to remain silent out of fear for the security of his

children. The disappearance of his son had been a clear message that he should not pursue

his work against corruption. In 2001, he was detained and sentenced to five years in prison

after a sham trial for calling for changes to the Constitution. He was released in 2006.

During the following two years, the family was systematically harassed by security forces

and summoned regularly, until he was once again detained for two years for participating in

an “unauthorized meeting”. Another cousin of Ms. Seif had been arrested by the police and

had disappeared for 10 days; he had been tortured and then released after the family had

paid bribes.

23. Ms. Seif highlighted that her story was emblematic of how thousands of Syrian

families had been affected by enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and the torture

of their loved ones. Those who had survived detention centres had described them as hell.

All those crimes had been perpetrated by the Assad family — father and son — and not a

single person had been held accountable for such acts. She said that the recent report of

Amnesty International on executions in Sadnaya prison had been no surprise, and recalled

that in 1982 the regime had massacred tens of thousands of Syrians in Hama without

anyone having been held accountable. She added that, like many Syrians, she believed that

if justice had been done for those crimes, the inhuman and cruel practices of detention,

torture and cold-blooded executions would not have happened again and that the criminal

elements from the other side claiming to be revolutionaries or opponents would not have

dared to commit similar crimes.

24. Ms. Seif ended by emphasizing that it was high time to put an end to the culture of

impunity in the Syrian Arab Republic. Justice was a right of all Syrians and their children.

It was a condition for peace. Justice was not a means of revenge but a means to avoid

revenge and to give hope for a better future, to create an atmosphere with a minimum of

peace of mind. It was necessary for peaceful coexistence between Syrians. It was an

invitation for Syrian refugees to return to their country and rebuild it, and it was also

important for curbing radicalization and defeating terrorism. Any political track that did not

address justice and accountability would not bring a sustainable peace.

25. Ms. Aljizawi described the conditions of her detention for six months at the

Palestine branch, a detention centre in Damascus run by the Syrian military intelligence,

and her disappearance in 2012. Hers was the story of thousands of Syrian women who had

been detained, not just because they were human rights activists or had been involved in the

provision of humanitarian or medical assistance, but because they were in a region whose

population was perceived by the Government as belonging to the opposition. Women had

been detained on the basis of their identity card. That was how dozens of women she had

met had been detained. The women came from Daraya, Baba Amr, Al-Zabadani, Madayya,

Al-Houla and hundreds of other villages and areas where the population had taken to the

streets against the regime. Women had also been detained as a means of pressuring their

families or extracting information under torture. Scores of women had reported to the NGO

recently created by Ms. Aljizawi that they had been tortured in front of their husbands,

brothers or parents in order to force them to confess.

26. Ms. Aljizawi spoke of detainees engraving their names on the walls of their cells

with their nails. A few months after she had been detained, her sister read her name on the

wall of cell number 13. Ms. Aljizawi wondered whether her daughter too would one day

read her name, together with her sister’s, on that same wall.

27. Ms. Aljizawi highlighted that no female staff worked in the detention centres, which

meant that sexual and gender-based violence started from the minute of arrest, continued

during searches by security officials and did not end with the interrogation and torture

sessions, during which the same techniques were used on male and female detainees. Many

women had been detained with their children, who remained with their mothers in filthy

conditions. One woman, Rania al-Abbasi, who had been detained in 2012, had disappeared

with six of her children; all remained missing.

28. Ms. Aljizawi noted that dozens of women and girls had been held by terrorist

organizations, including ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusrah, and had been forcibly recruited and

forcibly married. Undisciplined militias operating in coordination with the Government of

the Syrian Arab Republic had been involved in abductions and detentions. She was worried

that, even if access to detention centres was to be granted, access would still not be given to

secret detention centres run by militias. Farms, school and private properties had been used

by militias as torture centres. Many women had been abducted by some of the militias and

their bodies found thrown in the streets, particularly in Homs, in 2011, where Ms. Aljizawi

had herself been involved in documenting such cases.

29. Ms. Aljizawi ended by saying that she had been released not because of the

humanity or kindness of her captors but thanks to the solidarity of human rights defenders,

who had launched a large support campaign that had reached the scary place where she was

being held and had pressured the regime not to kill her. She added that, even if the

mechanisms were slow, the international community had to persevere in its efforts to secure

the release of women, children and men.

30. In his intervention, Mr. Al-Jilane spoke about the situation in areas such as Deir

Ezzour, Raqqa, rural Aleppo and Idleb, which were known to the public for hosting

extremists. He highlighted that those areas were home to nearly 3 million civilians and

about 100,000 missing persons, including detainees.

31. During the second half of 2014, ISIL had taken control of Raqqa and had begun

spreading terror among the civilian population. Abductions and executions had started

spreading in order to eliminate any alternative system. ISIL expanded eastward and

westward, controlling areas of rural Aleppo and large parts of Deir Ezzour governorate

after months of confrontation with the Free Syrian Army, using safe passages provided

through government-controlled areas that allowed them to expand their geographic control.

32. Not a single family in eastern Syrian Arab Republic had been spared from ISIL

oppression. Every home counted a missing person or someone who had become a martyr at

the hands of ISIL. ISIL was holding 8,653 civilians in captivity, including 1,081 children,

who were tortured on a daily basis, including for acts such as smoking or not abiding by a

strict dress code. Journalists and other detainees considered to be a threat to ISIL were

systematically moved between secret detention centres where they faced harsh treatment.

Some 1,380 children had gone missing from camps. Since the end of 2014, other groups,

such as Jabhat al-Nusrah, Jabhat Fath al-Sham and, later, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, had held

some 1,844 people in Idleb alone (1,138 civilians and dozens of Free Syrian Army

elements) in Al-Aqab detention centre, which had become Jabhat al-Nusrah’s most

notorious detention centre.

33. Mr. Al-Jilane added that the Syrian Democratic Forces had carried out ethnic

cleansing campaigns that had affected entire villages in the northern rural areas of Raqqa

over which it had taken control. It was holding 3,481 civilians in captivity, including 734

women and children. Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently had documented deaths resulting

from torture committed in these areas. Some detainees had been transferred to government

forces upon their request, within a framework of cooperation between the two parties. Like

other militias, the Syrian Democratic Forces had arrested and forcibly recruited persons in

areas under their control. Mr. Al-Jilane ended by emphasizing that, in the quest for

accountability, there was a need to focus on the top of the pyramid and identify those who

had unleashed all those extremist groups in 2011.

34. Mr. Darwish emphasized that, in addition to all the actors involved in detention and

enforced disappearances listed by the panellists, government-affiliated local militias such as

the National Defence Forces and other cross-border sectarian militias operated secret

detention centres. He added that the information shared by the panellists was not new to

anyone, as lack of information or evidence was not a problem. He highlighted that since the

Nuremberg trials, there had not been a context with such a large amount of evidence and

witnesses. The problem was the lack of political will to stop the carnage.

35. Mr. Darwish added that detentions in the Syrian Arab Republic, such as his, that of

his wife, parents and father-in-law, occurred with some legal cover provided either by

government courts or by sharia courts. Field military courts had issued thousands of death

sentences without respecting due process. The recently published report by Amnesty

International was only part of a much graver reality. Extermination, a term used by the

Commission of Inquiry, was ongoing. Those atrocities, which had been committed for six

years, were continuing as the Human Rights Council was in session. Civilians, including

women and children, who had committed no crime were dying under torture.

36. The answer to the frequent questions on how extremism had come about, on why

young people were joining criminal gangs and on the activities of terrorists groups lay in

Syrian detention centres and prisons. The root causes of terrorism needed to be looked into

in order for terrorism to be defeated.

37. The dream of many Syrians was for the war to come to an end, but they wondered

how peace and a political solution could be achieved while hundreds of thousands of

Syrians were detained or missing; how there could be real peace without accountability for

the crimes committed. Referring to the political negotiations, Mr. Darwish warned that the

decision to raise the issue of detainees during the talks in Astana instead of in Geneva had

sent a negative signal, as the issue became limited to an exchange of prisoners between

warlords. None of the warring parties was concerned with many of the categories of

persons detained, including human rights defenders. They mostly cared about the interests

of combatants, not about artists, lawyers or activists.

38. Mr. Darwish ended by expressing the hope that the children of his torturers would

live in peace, just as he hoped his own children would. He added that, in order to avoid

vengeful acts, a genuine transitional justice process was required. Without it, the ground

would be laid for a civil war that would erase what was left of the Syrian Arab Republic

and its people. Without accountability, the international community would send a wrong

signal to criminals throughout the world, giving them the green light to act freely and

continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.

39. Syrians paid the highest price for the presence of takfiri and extremist groups such

as ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusrah and therefore had the biggest interest in eradicating extremism

and terrorism. Mr. Darwish warned that the mistakes made in Iraq were being replicated.

The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the entire Middle East required a

comprehensive solution based on justice and democratic change as the way to guarantee

sustainable peace and eradicate terrorism.

IV. Summary of the discussion

40. During the interactive phase of the panel discussion, the following delegations spoke

(in order of intervention): the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (on

behalf of France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

and the United States of America), Norway (on behalf of the Nordic countries), Bahrain (on

behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council), the European Union, Spain, the United Kingdom,

Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay, Germany, Israel, Belgium, Qatar, Slovenia,

Liechtenstein, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, France,

the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the Maldives, the Netherlands, the United States, the

Russian Federation, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Iraq.

41. The following NGOs contributed to the discussion: the Cairo Institute for Human

Rights Studies, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Human Rights

Watch, the World Council of Arameans (Syriacs), Africa Culture Internationale and the

International Organization for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Interventions by representatives of States

42. Many representatives of States acknowledged that the people of the Syrian Arab

Republic continued to face horrific violations and abuses of international human rights and

international humanitarian law, and condemned the fact that tens of thousands of Syrians

had been subjected to detention and enforced disappearance. They also condemned the

brutal conditions of detention in facilities run by non-State armed groups, including terrorist

groups such as ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusrah. They urged all those who had influence on the

parties to the conflict to do their utmost to end the violence.

43. Many representatives condemned detention-related violations and abuses that caused

lasting pain and uncertainty for victims and their families, as highlighted in the recent

reports of Amnesty International and the Commission of Inquiry, in which the situation was

described as “extermination” and the need to end the physical and psychological torture in

Syrian detention centres was highlighted.

44. Many representatives called on all parties, particularly the Government of the Syrian

Arab Republic, to release all those illegally detained, to protect those in their custody and to

grant unhindered access to international independent monitors. Many representatives also

condemned the fact that the Government did not guarantee fair trials.

45. Many representatives highlighted the importance of the Commission of Inquiry

continuing to document violations and abuses of international human rights and

international humanitarian law, welcomed the establishment by the General Assembly of

the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism and called upon the Syrian

authorities to cooperate with both mechanisms.

46. A number of representatives called for the implementation of Security Council

resolution 2254 (2015), including the lifting of sieges, the delivery of humanitarian

assistance, the end of indiscriminate attacks, the release of detainees, the end of executions.

They emphasized the necessity to protect vulnerable groups, including children, women and

members of ethnic and religious groups. Some representatives condemned, in particular, the

violations committed against women in ISIL-controlled Raqqa.

47. Several State representatives emphasized the need for the international community

to end impunity in the Syrian Arab Republic and to support current and future

accountability initiatives so that those responsible for violations and abuses of international

law would be held to account. In that regard, some delegations stressed the importance of

referring the Syrian Arab Republic to the International Criminal Court and of supporting

other accountability initiatives.

48. Many representatives reiterated their support for the efforts of the Special Envoy of

the Secretary-General for Syria to find a political solution and stressed that lasting peace

could not prevail without justice.

49. Some representatives highlighted the necessity to protect and help those assisting

others, such as aid workers.

50. Some representatives asked how the international community could better protect

and secure access to victims of detention. Some representatives asked what steps could be

taken quickly by the international community to address the issues of detention, enforced

disappearance and missing persons given the ongoing failure of the Security Council to

refer the situation to the International Criminal Court and to impose sanctions on

individuals or entities involved in detention-related crimes. Some representatives wondered

how they could best support Syrian civil society efforts in that regard.

Interventions by representatives of non-governmental organizations

51. Some representatives of NGOs highlighted that the war continued to devastate the

lives of millions of people in the Syrian Arab Republic and that the United Nations and its

Member States needed to do more than monitor the situation and express moral outrage.

Violations and abuses continued despite the ongoing talks, and it was imperative that

human rights issues, including the situation of detainees, be prioritized in the negotiations.

Any agreement should grant independent monitors access to detention facilities and to all

those deprived of their liberty, irrespective of who was holding them. Peace required the

release of the thousands still suffering from arbitrary detention and that justice be done for

the crimes perpetrated against them.

52. Some representatives welcomed the fact that some European Union countries had

taken effective steps towards accountability through their national justice systems and

highlighted that those efforts must be strengthened. They welcomed the creation of the

International Impartial and Independent Mechanism but noted that it required adequate

resources if it was not to become irrelevant.

53. Some representatives urged the international community to pressure the Government

of the Syrian Arab Republic and the other parties to the conflict to release a list of all

detainees, as well as information on their current location and status, and to immediately

stop torture. In the case of the death of a detainee, a death certificate with the cause of death

and the burial location must be presented to the families.

54. Some representatives urged the international community to further pressure the

Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to abolish special courts, including counter-

terrorism courts and field military courts, and to guarantee fair trials, regardless of the

families’ affiliations.

55. Some representatives urged the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to repeal

laws that criminalized the right to peaceful assembly, association and freedom of

expression, and called on all parties to explicitly commit to not detain or prosecute aid

workers.

56. Some representatives highlighted that a transition plan must include an independent

mechanism for vetting current and future senior security officials and that, wherever there

was sufficient evidence to indicate responsibility for international crimes, suspects should

be prosecuted in fair trials.

V. Final remarks by the panellists

57. In response to the comments and questions made by the representatives of States and

NGOs, the panellists emphasized the importance of accountability for all victims in the

Syrian Arab Republic, without discrimination and regardless of ethnicity, religion or race.

They insisted on the importance of ending impunity, whoever the perpetrator was, and

highlighted that all perpetrators must be held to account, not in a spirit of revenge but

through a comprehensive transitional justice process aimed at addressing all crimes against

humanity and war crimes.

58. The panellists emphasized that the role of Syrian civil society was central and

essential and insisted that the international community and the United Nations must work in

partnership with Syrian civil society organizations, including in establishing accountability

mechanisms such as the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism. Syrian civil

society organizations should not only be seen as providers of information but as genuine

partners with skills and knowledge of the complexities and sensitivities of the context. They

were ready and looked forward to cooperating with the Mechanism and with European or

other countries where courts were examining Syrian cases, including on the basis of the

principle of universal jurisdiction.

59. The panellists reiterated the importance of States pressuring the parties to the

conflict into taking effective steps to take action on the issue of detention and securing the

release of detainees. They added that warring and negotiating parties must not use detainees

as bargaining chips in the political process.

60. The panellists stressed that it was imperative to assist in the rehabilitation of torture

survivors, who were all over the world and who had severe physical and mental scars. That

was a major gap in the response at the moment.

61. The panellists highlighted that the demands and steps required were clear and

achievable, and included an immediate halt to all death sentences issued by military courts,

special courts and sharia courts, granting the International Committee of the Red Cross and

the United Nations, including OHCHR monitors, access to detention centres with a view to

improving conditions. All parties needed to provide the United Nations with lists of the

names of those they were holding, those who had died or had been executed and the

location of burial sites and establish a mechanism for identifying remains.