UK: Regime commits overwhelming majority of abuses in Syria

While violations and abuses being committed by all sides, the UK Permanent Representative to the UN said "it is clear that the (Bashar) Assad regime has committed the overwhelming majority (of such abusive acts) and bears the ultimate responsibility for the protection of its citizens." UK Ambassador Mark Lyall hosted an informal meeting of the Security Council, where the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria briefed the Council members on the situation in Syria, late on Friday.
Talking to the press, Ambassador Lyall said that the Commission of Inquiry has a vital role to play in investigating and reporting, and his country "is a supporter to their important work." This is the fifth time that the commission has briefed the members of the Security Council, he told the reporters, and once again "we heard the horrific scale of violations and abuses being carried out against innocent civilians." The government military assaults followed a distinct pattern, where they cut civilian areas off from access to food, medical supplies, and sometimes electricity as aerial bombardments intensify, he confirmed. Ambassador Lyall then said that as the wounded try to leave, they are arrested, as are those who try to smuggle much needed food and medicines.
The UK is committed to achieve accountability of perpetrators, he noted, and welcomed the commission of Inquiries decision to share its information with states that have indicated willingness to pursue criminal investigations against suspected perpetrators including foreign national forces in the armed conflict.
"We fully support the work of the UN commission of inquiry and we continue to call for them to be given unfettered access to Syria and to investigate Human rights violations and abuses," he added.
In its latest report, the UN commission of inquiry on Syria called or urgent attention to be paid to the shocking crimes that continue to be perpetrated against the Syrian people.
The report emphasizes the need for concerted and sustained international action to find a political solution, to stop grave violations of human rights, and to break the seemingly intractable cycle of impunity.
It is unconscionable that Syrians should continue to suffer as they have for the last four years and have to live in a world where only limited attempts have been made to return Syria to peace, and to seek justice for the victims, said Commission Chair Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.
Talking to the press after Ambassador Lyall, Pinheiro said the horrific scene is not only perpetrated by "the two terrorist groups as the Security Council has defined, ISIL and Al-Nusra Front, but it is very important not to forget the human rights violations and war crimes committed by government forces, and by other non-state armed groups." He noted the need to end impunity and reaffirmed the necessity of bringing perpetrators to justice.
On his part, the Syrian National Coalition's Special Representative to the UN, Najib Ghadbian, said in a statement, that the report offers more proof of the deadly consequences of the Syrian regime's systematic efforts to silence, torture, and kill anyone who dares oppose its rule.
Over the past four years, the Syrian National Coalition has warned the world that the Syrian regime's deadly attacks against civilians are conducted as a matter of state policy, he added.
"Today, the independent Commission of Inquiry confirmed it," he expressed.
Ghadbian called for the Syrian regime to be brought to justice for its war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Syrian National Coalition fully supports the decision of the independent Commission of Inquiry to publish the names of alleged war crimes perpetrators and to deliver those names to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
He then asked the UN High Commissioner to take two further steps, first, to ensure that the European Union has access to the names so that it can update its extensive sanctions. Second, he said in his statement that the UN High Commissioner make these names public. It is time to end the culture of impunity in Syria, and to be absolutely clear that there will be accountability for brutality and savagery, he concluded.