4 June 2013<\/i> \u2013 With Syria engulfed in an escalating and increasingly brutal civil war, a panel of United Nations human rights experts today issued its latest report on the crisis, detailing war crimes it says were committed by both the Syrian Government and opposition forces, and calling for a \u201cdiplomatic surge\u201d to end the violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWar crimes and crimes against humanity have become a daily reality in Syria where the harrowing accounts of victims have seared themselves on our conscience […] Referral to justice remains paramount,\u201d says<\/a> the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria in a new report<\/a> to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n Created in August 2011, the Commission is chaired by Paulo Pinheiro, and includes experts Karen Koning Abuzayd, Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn. The report, the investigative team\u2019s fourth, covers the period 15 January to 15 May 2013, and documents for the first time systematic imposition of sieges, the use of chemical agents and forcible displacement.<\/p>\n \u201cSyria is in a free-fall,\u201d Mr. Pinheiro told the Council this morning. \u201cNo one is winning and will not win the war. More weapons will only lead to more civilians dead and wounded.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Pinheiro stressed that dialogue is the only way to find a solution to the conflict which has claimed the lives of more than 70,000 civilians and displaced more than four million since it began over two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ask that States exert influence over the parties to the conflict to compel them to protect civilians,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n From findings based on 430 interviews and other collected evidence, the four experts stress in the report that there is a human cost to the increased availability of weapons in Syria, where arms transfers heighten the risk of violations, leading to more civilian deaths and injuries.<\/p>\n While the experts note that Government forces and affiliated militia have committed \u201cmurder, torture, rape, forcible displacement, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts,\u201d as part of widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations, they also note that armed anti-Government groups have also committee war crimes, crimes against humanity, including murder, sentencing and execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking and pillage.<\/p>\n \u201cThe violations and abuses committed by anti-Government armed groups did not, however, reach the intensity and scale of those committed by Government forces and affiliated militia,\u201d the report says.<\/p>\n In addition, the precarious situation of Syria\u2019s 4.25 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) is compounded by recent incidents of IDPs being targeted and forcibly displaced.<\/p>\n There are reasonable grounds to believe that chemical agents have been used as weapons. The experts say that allegations have been received concerning the use of chemical weapons by both parties. The majority concern their use by Government forces.<\/p>\n In four attacks \u2013 on Khan Al-Asal, Aleppo, 19 March; Uteibah, Damascus, 19 March; Sheikh Maqsood neighbourhood, Aleppo, 13 April; and Saraqib, Idlib, 29 April \u2013 \u201cthere are reasonable grounds to believe that limited quantities of toxic chemicals were used.\u201d<\/p>\n It has not been possible, on the evidence available, to determine the precise chemical agents used, their delivery systems or the perpetrator. Other incidents also remain under investigation.<\/p>\n Conclusive findings \u2013 particularly in the absence of a large-scale attack \u2013 may be reached only after testing samples taken directly from victims or the site of the alleged attack.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is, therefore, of utmost importance that the Panel of Experts, led by Professor Sellstr\u00f6m and assembled under the Secretary General’s Mechanism for Investigation of Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons, is granted full access to Syria,\u201d the experts say.<\/p>\n \u201cA diplomatic surge is the only path to a political settlement. Negotiations must be inclusive, and must represent all facets of Syria\u2019s cultural mosaic,\u201d says the Commission, calling on the international community to support the peace process based on the Geneva Communiqu\u00e9 and the work of the UN and Arab League Joint Special Representative for Syria.<\/p>\n The Commission also calls on the international community to counter the escalation of the conflict by restricting arms transfers, especially given the clear risk that the arms will be used to commit serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.<\/p>\n