United Nations General Assembly
Plenary Session
New York, 29 July 2013
M. le Président
[M. le. Secretaire-Général,]
Excellences,
Mesdames,
Messieurs
Syria is in free-fall. Relentless shelling
has killed thousands of civilians and displaced the populations of entire
towns. An untold number of men and women have disappeared while passing through
the ubiquitous checkpoints. Those freed from detention live with the physical
and mental scars of torture. Hospitals have been bombarded, leaving the sick
and wounded to languish without care. With the destruction of thousands of
schools, a generation of children now struggle to obtain an education. The country
has become a battlefield; its civilians, victims of acts of terror.
4.5 million people have been
internally displaced. As the war rages on, 18 million people remain
in their homes inside Syria. These families are the first providers of
humanitarian aid to their fellow citizens. The estimated cost of the conflict
to Syria’s economy is between 60 to 80 billion dollars. Over 2.5 million Syrians
are now unemployed and struggling to survive.
The war remains deadlocked as both sides
labour under the illusion that a military victory is possible. The Government has
maintained control of major cities and lines of communication. It continues to
rely on its superior weaponry and control of the skies to target areas it is unwilling
or unable to seize through ground attacks. Hundreds of anti-Government armed
groups have increased their operations in the northern and southern
governorates. Few have evolved into better structured forces, able to fight
across several fronts. The majority remain seriously fragmented, with fighters
continually shifting allegiances, usually to better-resourced groups. Extremist
elements are a minority but play an active role in hostilities. Violence has
spiked in the Kurdish regions of northern Syria with clashes breaking out between
Kurdish and anti-Government armed groups.
Syria’s porous borders have facilitated the
involvement of regional armed actors, increasingly along sectarian lines. The
conflict is extending beyond Syria’s borders, igniting tensions in the whole
region.
It is civilians who are the victims of this
prolonged war. Crimes that shock the conscience have become a dreadful daily reality in Syria. Over 800 days since the unrest first began, it is apparent
that violations against civilians and hors
de combat fighters by both sides continue with little regard to law or to
conscience.
Indiscriminate shelling and
aerial bombardment continue across Syria. In particular, towns and villages
hosting internally displaced persons from restive areas, such as Homs, have
come under relentless attack.
Unlawful attacks by Government
forces have been documented in almost every governorate. In many areas, most
recently in the eastern Damascus countryside, shelling occurs on a daily basis.
As the conflict has unfolded, the Government has deployed more imprecise
weaponry, such as unguided missiles, cluster munitions and thermobaric bombs.
Interviews with defectors suggest that there is a retributive element to some
of these attacks, “punishing” civilians for the presence of armed groups in
their towns and villages.
A significant proportion of the
casualties are deaths as a result of indiscriminate or disproportionate shelling.
Civilians have been killed by mortars landing in the streets; others have been
crushed by rubble after their homes were destroyed by barrel bombs. More
recently, civilians have been killed when surface-to-surface missiles destroyed
not only their houses, but also their neighbourhoods.
Some anti-Government armed
groups – notably around Nubul and Zahra in northern Aleppo and Fou’a in Idlib
countryside – also indiscriminately shell villages where a significant civilian
population resides. Such attacks result in civilian deaths and injuries. Of
extreme concern is whether both Government forces and anti-Government armed
groups are positioning military objectives within civilian areas, exposing
residents to attack by the opposing side.
These unlawful attacks are a
primary reason for the movement of people inside the country and over its
borders. Entire communities are being stalked by shelling. Families move from
place to place, through fields and along dirt roads, in search of dwindling
safe havens.
Government forces, apparently with the support of the National
Defence Army, have employed sieges across the country, cutting off supplies of
food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel. The prolonged sieges occurring in
Dara’a and eastern Damascus governorates have harrowing consequences on the
lives of civilians, and in particular on young children and those requiring
medical care. Multiple attacks on food security have been reported:
interviewees describe wheat harvests being burnt across Hama, Homs, Aleppo and
Idlib governorates. Sieges are also employed by anti-Government armed groups,
predominantly in northern Aleppo.
One of the most insidious
aspects of the Syrian conflict has been the disappearance of thousands of
people from their homes, at checkpoints and from the streets. Across Syria, families
wait in the desperate hope that their loved ones will be safely returned to
them. One interviewee, held for over a year by a Syrian intelligence agency,
was confronted upon his release by dozens of women thrusting photographs of
their husbands, sons and fathers towards him, hoping that he had seen some of
them during his detention.
To ‘disappear’ someone is to
place her or him outside the
protection of the law. It is often a gateway to the commission of further
crimes such as torture. Torture, as documented in our reports, continues to be
committed on a widespread and systematic basis, most frequently inside the
detention centres of Government intelligence agencies. Torture has also allegedly
occurred inside state and military
hospitals. Some anti-Government armed groups also torture captured soldiers
during interrogations, employing the same methods used by intelligence
agencies.
Crimes of sexual violence,
including rape, have been documented as occurring at checkpoints, during house
searches and in detention centres. As affirmed by the Security Council in its
Resolution 2106 of 24 June 2013, sexual violence, when committed as a
war crime or crime against humanity, can significantly exacerbate and prolong
situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of peace and
security.
Massacres and other unlawful killings
are perpetrated with impunity. Most have been perpetrated by pro-Government
forces. Such killings by anti-Government armed groups have occurred, notably in
Aleppo, Al Raqqah and Dayr Al-Zawr governorates.
There have been strong
overtones of sectarianism in many of the violations committed. The Syrian conflict
is extremely complex. It is vital that its sectarian dimension be placed within
the broader geopolitical context. Indeed, it is politics that pushes
sectarianism and that now engenders violence of a more sectarian nature, and which
empowers its perpetrators.
The Commission’s ability to
reach victims from all sides, and to present a full picture of the conflict,
has been dramatically reduced by the denial of access to Syria. We are
heartened by the recent visits to Damascus by the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Leila Zerrougui and by
Professor Ake Sellström, Head of the Panel of Experts. The Commission sincerely
hopes that access to the country will follow in the near future making it
possible to observe, more thoroughly and from all angles, the conflict in an
unbiased and impartial manner.
[Pause]
What I have described today may
outrage, but these violations are not new. Since August 2011, they have been
the focus of 10 reports and updates by the Commission of Inquiry. For those who
continue to perpetrate violations of international law, there appears to be no
fear of future accountability for their actions. Turning a spotlight upon their
unlawful conduct has not had the effect of stopping, or even slowing it.
That civilians should come
under such sustained unlawful attacks should shock our conscience and spur us
to action. But it has not. As the conflict drags on, we have become accustomed
to levels of violence that were previously unthinkable. Your inaction has
nourished the culture of impunity that has developed inside Syria today.
This war is a chronicle of
missed opportunities on the part of influential states and the international
community as a whole. I repeat the view I expressed as the war began. There
is no military solution to this conflict. This view has also been expressed
by many others, including our colleague Lakhdar
Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative for the United Nations and the Arab
League.
Those who supply arms to the
various warring parties are not creating the ground for victory but rather the
illusion of victory. This is a dangerous and irresponsible illusion as it allows
the war to unfurl endlessly before us. As the conflict extends, it opens the
door to further immense human suffering and the possible conflagration of an
entire region.
The Government must cease using
imprecise weaponry, such as unguided missiles, on civilian areas. Both sides
must discontinue the use of sieges as a method of warfare. Above all, there must
be a cessation in the fighting to allow for humanitarian relief to move unaided
through the country, and to provide a space for the first steps towards
dialogue to be taken.
It is time for the
international community to act decisively. There are no easy choices. To evade
choice, however, is to countenance the continuation of this war and its many
violations. The conflict will not find its own peaceful solution. Its path does
not flow towards negotiation. Nevertheless a return to a negotiation leading to
a political settlement is imperative. The world must hear the cry of the people
– stop the violence, put an end to this carnage, halt the destruction of Syria!
To create conditions amenable
to negotiations is your responsibility, and it is most particularly the responsibility
of influential states. Future negotiations should build upon the tenets of the
June 2012 Geneva Communiqué. Accountability
must form part of the negotiations if any future peace is to endure.
We cannot continue to recite a
litany of violations and abuses to little effect either on the warring parties inside
Syria or those walking along the corridors of power. It is not enough to be
appalled.
There is an obligation to do
what you must to bring this war to a close. This will require the international
community not only to recognise, but also to demand, a diplomatic
solution.
It is time to do what you must to bring Syria to a just and lasting peace.
Thank you.
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