UN Approves Creation of Special Team to Prepare Cases on Syria War Crimes

Syrian government forces and Russian soldiers keep watch as civilians and fighters are evacuated from a rebel-held area of Aleppo.

New York, 22 Rabi’ul Awwal 1438/22 December 2016 (MINA) – The UN General Assembly on Wednesday voted to establish a special team to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence” as well as to prepare cases on war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict in Syria.

The General Assembly adopted a Liechtenstein-drafted resolution to establish the independent team with 105 in favor, 15 against and 52 abstentions. The team will work in coordination with the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry, IINA News reported.

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Liechtenstein UN Ambassador Christian Wenaweser told the General Assembly ahead of the vote, “We have postponed any meaningful action on accountability too often and for too long.”

He said inaction has sent “the signal that committing war crimes and crimes against humanity is a strategy that is condoned and has no consequences.”

The special team will “prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes.”

The UN resolution calls on all states, parties to the conflict, and civil society groups to provide any information and documentation to the team.

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The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria was established by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in 2011 to investigate possible war crimes.

The Commission of Inquiry, which says it has a confidential list of suspects on all sides who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, has repeatedly called for the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Russia and China vetoed a bid by western powers to refer the conflict in Syria to The Hague-based court in 2014.

Half of Syria’s 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed since the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011, following a crackdown by Assad regime on pro-democracy protesters.(T/P008/R07)

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Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)