Statement by Paulo Pinheiro Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Geneva, 22 September 2023

Monsieur le Président,

Excellences,

Bonjour,

The present stalemate in Syria is intolerable. The war has not ended. There are no ultimate winners and the country remains one that is unsafe for the return of refugees.

Today, Syrian youth are fleeing the country in droves, leaving behind a fragmented state, a crippled economy and destroyed homes. They no longer feel they have a future in their own country.

Despite diplomatic efforts to stabilize the situation in Syria, including through its re-admission to the League of Arab States, Syrians are suffering from escalating unrest and fighting along multiple frontlines, a near collapse of the economy, and persistent human rights violations and abuses. Nearly twelve years in, the parties to this conflict continue to perpetrate war crimes and to violate basic human rights.

Normalization with no clear and tangible benchmarks will not break this deadlock and will likely doom Syrians to more suffering, more destruction, and more bloodshed. We will see more mothers mourning their dead or disappeared sons and daughters. There must be benchmarks that tackle the rights-based grievances that led to this conflict.

It is with these messages that we report to this council on the situation over the past six months in Syria. During the first half of 2023, Syrians continued to be killed, disappeared, tortured, arbitrarily detained, displaced and dispossessed, not only by the State but also by the three other main actors controlling a third of its territory: UN-designated terrorist group HTS (Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham), the opposition SNA (“Syrian National Army”), and the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces) in northeastern Syria.

The report before you documents attacks and civilian casualties involving Syrian forces and five foreign armies still operating in the country. 

The Syrian Army and the Russian air force launched many attacks on the earthquake-affected northwest, resulting in civilian casualties. In Idlib in May, a US airstrike killed a person who they later acknowledged was probably a civilian and initiated an internal investigation into the killing. Airstrikes widely attributed to Israel killed and injured civilians, and rendered key transport infrastructure inoperable, including in the wake of the February earthquake.

Recent months also saw civilians killed and injured in attacks occurring between Kurdish-led forces and Türkiye and Turkish-backed militias along frontlines in the northeast.

Meanwhile, insecurity also continued in southern Syria, including assassinations, kidnapping and detention. In June, tensions in Dar’a triggered airstrikes by the Syrian air force for the first time since 2018. The previous month, a suspected Jordanian airstrike targeted and killed an alleged civilian drug trafficker, his wife and five children.

Since the report was finalized in July, civilians continued to be killed in separate incidents in greater Idlib. In August, clashes erupted in Deir-Ezzor involving the SDF and local tribes and expanded to other governorates, with more civilian injuries.

Monsieur le Président,

Da’esh remains active and dangerous. The Central Syria desert, an area controlled by multiple pro-government forces, including pro-Iran militias, witnessed brutal attacks which resulted in the kidnapping and death of scores of civilians, many shot dead at point blank range. In July, attacks claimed by Da’esh killed civilians in the south of Damascus in an area known to attract Shi’a pilgrims.

In the SDF-held northeast, the Kurdish Revolutionary Youth continued to abduct boys and girls with a view to integrating them into security forces, despite SDF commitments to prohibit child recruitment in areas they control.

Deaths in detention raise serious concerns of torture and ill-treatment in SDF custody. In Al Hawl and Al Rawj camps, living conditions amount to cruel and inhuman treatment and outrages on personal dignity for an estimated 50,000 people, mainly women and children.

We note that fourteen States have repatriated more than two thousand two hundred foreigners from these camps since the beginning of this year, including more than eighteen hundred Iraqis. Such efforts are absolutely critical. We have long stated that the only human rights compliant solution for foreign nationals in the northeast is repatriations, both for reintegration and rehabilitation and for prosecution as appropriate and with due respect for the principle of non-refoulement. It is important to recall that especially for the children they are victims of Daesh themselves first and foremost and must be treated as such.

In June, the self-administration in the northeast expressed its readiness to try an estimated two thousand foreign men and boys, currently in detention camps, and has asked the international community for assistance. The local courts operated by the SDF, a non-state actor, are incapable of dealing with these numbers, alongside thousands of Syrian detainees who also continue to be held on suspicion of ISIS-related crimes.

Excellences,

Across the country, State and non-State actors continue to intimidate and harass activists and journalists. In HTS-controlled areas, women activists and women's organizations are particularly threatened and subjected to campaigns of hate speech both off and online.

Given the situation, it is extraordinary to see Syrians again taking to the streets and raising their voices to demand change. Protests in Suwayda, now in their fifth week, coincide with growing criticism of public policies across Government areas against a background of unprecedented levels of poverty and continuing political repression.

As the economic catastrophe in Syria deepens, States that are imposing unilateral coercive measures must review the impact of these on the lives of Syrian citizens and humanitarian actors. They must also maintain the steps taken to ease sanctions in response to the earthquake.

All parties simply must refrain from hindering humanitarian aid to those in need. The colossal failure at the Security Council to reach a consensus to extend the Bab Al Hawa border crossing in July is a stark reminder of how politicization deprives the most vulnerable Syrians of much-needed assistance. Last February, delayed government consent, de facto authorities’ obstruction, aid diversion and administrative hurdles hindered timely access to affected communities in north and northwest Syria. While the agreement reached in August between the UN and the Government of Syria to temporarily re-open border crossings is welcome, such temporary arrangements constrain the humanitarian response, which will be needed for months, if not years to come. Why is it too much to ask that the parties and the international community ensure that cross-border humanitarian assistance is provided at the necessary scale and in a sustainable manner?

Furthermore, it remains unsafe for Syrians to return to their country. Some refugees returning from neighbouring countries, including people forcibly deported by State authorities, have been detained and ill-treated by Syrian security forces or criminal gangs. Some have been blackmailed for their release, others were handed over to security services, and in some cases people, including children, went missing.

We note the announcement by the International Court of Justice that it will hold public hearings concerning the proceedings against the Syrian Arab Republic in relation to its obligations under the Convention against Torture. This is the first time the Syrian State itself will be required to defend its record. Survivors and their families must be able to take part meaningfully in these proceedings.

Excellences,

We warmly welcome the General Assembly’s June decision to create the dedicated Independent Institution on Missing Persons, which the Commission has long advocated for in line with the wishes and advocacy of Syrian family associations and women’s organisations. This initiative is firmly in the humanitarian track.  We expect the Government and all other duty bearers and organizations who hold information on Syria’s tens of thousands of missing and/or disappeared to proactively engage with this new institution. 

Excellences, I end as I began. Syria deserves more from you. Keeping a stalemate that ensures no outright victors emerge, but with no clear pathways to peace and to justice, only ensures that everybody loses.

The violations we have been reporting on have already sown the seeds for further violence and radicalization in the years to come. Urgent responses from the international community are required. We cannot not stand by and let this happen.

I thank you.