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GENEVA – A group of United Nations independent human rights experts* today emphasized that the UN Security Council’s decision not to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) leaves the door wide open for new atrocities in the ongoing conflict.
“The double veto last week to a resolution referring the situation in Syria to the ICC is likely to expose the Syrian population to further gross human rights and humanitarian law violations,” they said. “The failure to hold those responsible for the violations to account may fuel further atrocities.”
The human rights experts stressed that “given the absence of prosecution at the domestic level it was the UN Security Council’s responsibility to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.”
“Referring the situation in Syria to the ICC would have been an important and most necessary step both to protect civilians against continued and future violations by all sides to the conflict, and to curb impunity for the grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law, some amounting to crimes against humanity,” they noted.
In March, in light of its serious concern and the gravity of the situation in relation to enforced disappearance in the country, the UN Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances requested the Security Council to consider referring the matter to the International Criminal Court (“Syria: Group of experts call for action into enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity”)
(*) The experts: Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Heiner Bielefeldt; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson; Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai; Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo De Greiff; Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez; Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns; Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
The full press release is available in English and Chinese via OHCHR.
