United Nations investigators say that human rights violations and abuse in Syria are sowing the seeds for further violence and radicalization, despite diplomatic efforts to stabilize the situation in the country, including through its re-admission to the League of Arab States.
The three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria presented this bleak outlook Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Reacting to the commission assessment, a majority of the 42 countries in the meeting expressed deep concern about continuing alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Syrian regime.
The U.N. estimates that more than 300,000 civilians have been killed since 2011 and over 12 million forced from their homes—6.8 million within Syria and 5.4 million as refugees in neighboring countries.
During the first half of this year, with the war continuing, “Syrians continued to be killed, disappeared, tortured, arbitrarily detained, displaced and dispossessed,” said Pinheiro, “not only by the state but also by the three other main actors controlling a third of its territory.”
This is reference to the U.N.-designated terrorist group Hayat Tahriri Al-Sham, the opposition Syrian National Army, and the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria.
Additionally, the report documents attacks by Syrian forces and five foreign armies still operating in the country, including Russian air forces, Israeli forces, and Turkish-backed militias.
