{"id":157437,"date":"2018-03-20T04:21:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T08:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=157437"},"modified":"2018-03-20T04:21:13","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T08:21:13","slug":"un-rights-chief-syria-siege-involved-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/03\/20\/un-rights-chief-syria-siege-involved-war-crimes\/","title":{"rendered":"UN rights chief: Syria siege involved ‘war crimes’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"High<\/a>
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein was blocked from addressing a formal council meeting by a Russian procedural manoeuvr, but he delivered his hard-hitting speech to an open meeting anyway, decrying \u201cmind-numbing crimes\u201d committed by all parties in Syria using \u201cunlawful methods of warfare.\u201d (Photo: United Nations Human Rights\/ Facebook)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.N. human rights chief told an informal meeting of the Security Council Monday that the Syrian government’s five-year siege of the Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta has involved \u201dpervasive war crimes,\u201d use of chemical weapons and starvation as a weapon of war.<\/p>\n

High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein was blocked from addressing a formal council meeting by a Russian procedural manoeuvr, but he delivered his hard-hitting speech to an open meeting anyway, decrying \u201cmind-numbing crimes\u201d committed by all parties in Syria using \u201cunlawful methods of warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said multiple parties to the conflict, now in its eighth year, \u201cclaim to justify their military offensives based on their struggle against terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Zeid said \u201cnever before have the campaigns against terrorism been used more often to justify the unconscionable use of force against civilians than in the last few months in Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was especially critical of Syria, singling out President Bashar Assad’s claim that his government makes every effort to protect civilians.<\/p>\n

The U.N.’s top human rights official dismissed it, saying: \u201cWhen you are capable of torturing and indiscriminately killing your own people, you have long forfeited your own credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeid pointed to eastern Ghouta as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe siege of eastern Ghouta by the Syrian government forces, half a decade long, has involved pervasive war crimes, the use of chemical weaponry, enforced starvation as a weapon of warfare, and the denial of essential and life-saving aid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Zeid said this has culminated \u201cin the current relentless, month-long bombardment of hundreds of thousands of terrified trapped civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies are now streaming out of the area,\u201d he said, \u201cbut many civilians fear reprisals will be taken against them for their perceived support for opposition groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeid stressed that \u201cthose who have perpetrated and are still perpetrating these mind-numbing crimes committed in Syria must be made to answer before a properly constituted court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis must be assured and made non-negotiable – for the victims,\u201d he said, but also for the legitimacy of the U.N. and the Security Council, and to prevent future violations and advance human rights around the world.<\/p>\n

He again urged the council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

That remains highly unlikely, however, since both Russia and China vetoed a resolution backed by more than 60 countries in May 2014 that would have referred the Syrian conflict to the ICC.<\/p>\n

Zeid also said justice and respect for human rights must be at the centre of any peace talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo settlement which shields the perpetrators from prosecution is worth discussing, simply because such a settlement would be utterly empty,\u201d he said. \u201cFor peace in Syria to be meaningful and lasting, a guarantee of justice for the Syrian people must be assured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zeid had been scheduled to speak at an open council meeting Monday afternoon, but when it started, Russian Deputy Ambassador Gennady Kuzmin protested that it was a question for the Human Rights Council in Geneva, not the Security Council, which is charged with ensuring international peace and security.<\/p>\n

He demanded a procedural vote on whether the meeting should be held.<\/p>\n

To proceed, at least nine of the 15 council members had to vote \u201cyes,\u201d but only eight did so. Four countries voted \u201cno\u201d – Russia, China, Bolivia and Kazakhstan – while the three African countries, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Equitorial Guinea abstained.<\/p>\n

Longtime U.N. observers said it was exceedingly rare for a scheduled council meeting to be halted by a procedural vote.<\/p>\n

France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre criticized Russia for refusing any discussion of human rights in the Security Council, when rights violations in Syria \u201dare at their very peak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britain’s deputy U.N. ambassador Jonathan Allen said Russia \u201cdoesn’t want the truth of … the appalling human rights abuses taking place.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he said: \u201cWe mustn’t let them silence us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.N. human rights chief told an informal meeting of the Security Council Monday that the Syrian government’s five-year siege …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":97088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[48676,12977],"class_list":["post-157437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","tag-u-n-human-rights","tag-zeid-raad-al-hussein","mauthors-edith-m-lederer","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}