Syria’s future is increasingly bleak amid uptick in violence, sieges, plummeting economy and COVID19, warns Commission of Inquiry on Syria

The future for Syria’s people is “increasingly bleak”, UN-appointed rights experts said on Tuesday, highlighting escalating conflict in several areas of the war-ravaged country, a return to siege tactics and popular demonstrations linked to the plummeting economy.

According to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, the country is not safe for refugees to return to, after a decade of war.

The panel’s findings come amid an uptick in violence in the northwest, northeast and south of the country, where the Commissioners highlighted the chilling return of besiegement against civilian populations by pro-Government forces.

“The parties to the conflict continue to perpetrate war crimes and crimes against humanity and infringing the basic human rights of Syrians,” said head of the Commission of Inquiry, Paulo Pinheiro. “The war on Syrian civilians continues, and it is difficult for them to find security or safe haven.”

Professor Pinheiro also described as “scandalous” the fact that many thousands of non-Syrian children born to former IS fighters continue to be held in detention in dreadful conditions in Syria’s north-east.

“Most foreign children remain deprived of their liberty since their home countries refuse to repatriate them,” he told journalists, on the sidelines of the 48th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“We have the most ratified convention in the world, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is completely forgotten. And democratic States that are prepared to abide to this Convention they neglect the obligations of this Convention in what is happening in Al Hol and other camps and prison places.”

Some 40,000 children continue to be held in camps including Al Hol. Nearly half are Iraqi and 7,800 are from nearly 60 other countries who refuse to repatriate them, according to the Commission of Inquiry report, which covers the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021. 

The rights experts also condemned a siege by pro-Government forces on the town of Dar’a Al-Balad, the birthplace of the uprising in 2011, along with “siege-like tactics” in Quineitra and Rif Damascus governorates.

“Three years after the suffering that the Commission documented in eastern Ghouta, another tragedy has been unfolding before our eyes in Dar’a Al-Balad,” said Commissioner Hanny Megally, in reference to the siege of eastern Ghouta which lasted more than five years – and which the commissioners previously labelled “barbaric and medieval”.

In addition to the dangers posed by heavy artillery shelling, tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside Dar’a Al-Balad had insufficient access to food and health care, forcing many to flee, the Commissioners said.

In the Afrin and Ra’s al-Ayn regions of Aleppo, the Commissioners described how people lived in fear of car bombs “that are frequently detonated in crowded civilian areas”, targeting markets and busy streets.

At least 243 women, men and children have been killed in seven such attacks over the 12-month reporting period, they said, adding that the real toll is likely to be considerably higher.

Indiscriminate shelling has also continued, including on 12 June when munitions struck multiple locations in Afrin city in northwest Syria, killing and injuring many and destroying parts of al-Shifa hospital.

Insecurity in areas under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria has also deteriorated, according to the Commission of Inquiry, with increased attacks by extremist “remnants” and conflict with Turkish forces.

The Commissioners noted that although President Assad controls about 70 per cent of the territory and 40 per cent of the pre-war population, there seems to be “no moves to unite the country or seek reconciliation. On the contrary.”

The senior rights experts also highlighted mounting discontent and protests amongst the population, impacted by fuel shortages and food insecurity, which has increased by 50 per cent in a year, to 12.4 million, citing UNFPA data.

“The hardships that Syrians are facing, particularly in the areas where the Government is back in control, are beginning to show in terms of protests by Syrians who have been loyal to the State,” said Mr. Megally. They are now saying, ‘10 years of conflict, our lives are getting worse rather than getting better, when do we see an end to this?’”

ENDS

STORY: Investigation Report Commission of Inquiry on Syria

TRT: 3’10’’

SOURCE: UNTV CH

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

ASPECT RATIO: 16:9

DATELINE: 14 Sept 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

SHOTLIST

1. Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying

1. Medium shot, interior, Conference room

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “ As President Assad enters, he was reelected, his fourth term in office, allegedly controlling 70 per cent of the territory and 40 per cent of the pre-war population, there seems to be no moves to unite the country or seek reconciliation, as a lot of people hope. On the contrary, we see incidents of arbitrary and incommunicado detention by government forces continuing unabated”.

1. Close of a panelist taking a video of the conference

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “The overall situation in Syria looks increasingly bleak. In addition to increasing violence, the economy is plummeting and widespread community transmission of the Covid 19 (we cannot forget that) seemed unstoppable, by a health care system decimated by the war and lacking oxygen and vaccines”.

1. Medium shot, audience taking notes

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “What is really pathetic in this 21st century that the past months have seen the return of sieges and siege-like tactics in Dara, in Qunaytirah and the Damascus governorates”.

1. Medium shot, Speakers speaking and Zoom participants

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “One of the most scandalous features of our report is what is happening with the estimated 40,000 children held in our hall and other camps. Nearly half are Iraqi. Seventy-eight hundred come from nearly 60 other countries”.

1. Wide shot, audience taking notes

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “Most foreign children remain deprived of their liberty since their home countries refuse to repatriate them”.

1. Medium shot, audience taking notes

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Commissioner of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Hanny Megally: “30 months, two and a half years into this situation, and I think most people are now in agreement that the children should be home and in fact, the mothers should be brought back with the children. And most countries ought to be able to have judicial systems to deal with, with the challenges of how they deal with the mothers that they bring home with the children”.

1. Close of a panelist taking notes

1. SOUNDBITE (English): Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, Paulo Pinheiro: “All the States that are not able to repatriate the children and they continue tolerating this abuse on the children, they are responsible”.

1. Medium shot of the audience in the room

1. Close of a panelist listening to the Conference