UN implicates Bashar al-Assad in Syria war crimes
December 3, 2013 ·
Navi Pillay is the first UN figure to directly implicate Mr Assad in alleged war crimes
The UN’s human rights chief has said an inquiry has produced evidence that war crimes were authorised in Syria at the “highest level”, including by President Bashar al-Assad.
It is the first time the UN’s human rights office has so directly implicated Mr Assad.
Commissioner Navi Pillay said her office held a list of others implicated by the inquiry.
The UN estimates more than 100,000 people have died in the conflict.
Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva
The fact that serious violations have been committed in Syria is not in doubt – UN investigators have evidence of torture, mass killing, and rape. The investigators have always said the Syrian regime appears to be responsible for the majority of abuses.
But they have never publicly singled out specific figures; there is a list of names, but it is confidential pending a possible prosecution for war crimes. Today, Navi Pillay openly suggested President Bashar al-Assad may be directly responsible for violations. She took care to say she had not seen that confidential list, but she has been briefed by the UN investigators.
Based on those briefings, she has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, something it has not so far done. Her surprising candour today may be a sign of her impatience.
The UN’s commission of inquiry into Syria has produced “massive evidence… [of] very serious crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity,” Ms Pillay said.
“The scale of viciousness of the abuses being perpetrated by elements on both sides almost defies belief,” she said.
The evidence indicated responsibility “at the highest level of government, including the head of state”, she added.
The inquiry has also previously reported it has evidence that rebel forces in Syria have been guilty of human rights abuses.
However, the investigators have always said the Syrian government appears to be responsible for the majority, and that the systematic nature of the abuse points to government policy.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad was dismissive of Ms Pillay’s remarks.
“She has been talking nonsense for a long time and we don’t listen to her,” he told AP.
Mr Mekdad was in The Hague at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to discuss the effort to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.
Mr Mekdad told the BBC’s Anna Holligan, Syria needed lorries and armoured vehicles to move the chemicals
He told the BBC that Syria needed more money and equipment from the international community.
He said Syria needed lorries and armoured vehicles to transport chemicals to prevent “terrorists” attacking the vehicles on their way to the port of Latakia, where they will be loaded onto a US naval vessel for destruction.
An OPCW spokesman at the conference told the BBC that any donations of dual-use equipment would be carefully monitored and there would have to be strict guidelines imposed to make sure the machinery could only be used for the purpose of removing the weapons.
Death toll ‘over 125,000’
Ms Pillay said the UN commission of inquiry had compiled a list of those believed to be directly responsible for serious human rights violations.
It is assumed that senior figures in the Syrian military and government are on that list, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva.
However, the names and specific evidence relating to them remain confidential pending a possible prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
She has previously called on the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the ICC.
Syria is not a state party to the ICC and therefore any investigation into the conflict would need to be mandated by the Security Council.
However, Russia and China have a veto on the council and would be highly unlikely to let such a move pass.
