Last month marked 10 years since the beginning of the Syrian uprising when peaceful protesters, galvanised by the Arab Spring, went out on to the streets demanding freedom from an authoritarian regime and were met with bullets.
President Bashar al-Assad vowed to crush dissent. In doing so, he set in motion a proxy war, creating what the UN’s human rights chief has called the “worst man-made disaster the world has seen since World War II”.
Countless studies have shown that women and girls are disproportionately affected by war – both during and after – as existing inequalities are amplified and there is heightened vulnerability to sexual violence and exploitation.
The United Nations special envoy to Syria has called for the creation of a new international forum to resolve the 10-year war in Syria saying the UN “profoundly regretted” having failed in its mediation efforts.
In a news briefing marking the tenth anniversary of the Syrian revolution, Geir Pedersen on Monday said the United States, European nations, and others should become part of the peace-making process and “in-depth” discussions with the US were needed on the issue.
“We should try put in place a new international format as a forum for the necessary discussions … in a manner where we bring in all the different parties that have an influence on this conflict,” said Pedersen.
A German court last month convicted an alleged former Syrian intelligence officer after he was charged with crimes against humanity perpetrated in his home country.
The case set the stage for the first prosecution for torture by suspected members of the government’s notorious security services and the case was closely watched by those seeking justice for victims of international crimes committed since the Syrian war erupted in 2011.
International crimes are crimes that are so serious they affect the international community as a whole. They include war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
In a September 2019 report, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said Syrian government forces backed by Russian warplanes may have committed war crimes, citing two incidents in Idlib province earlier this year.
Three NGOs have filed a legal case in Moscow against Russian private military contractor Wagner over the torture of a detainee in Syria, aiming to hold to account a murky fighting force with links to the Kremlin.
The legal push against Wagner Group on Monday follows a wave of torture-related cases in Europe against officials of the Syrian regime a decade into a punishing war whose tide was turned by Moscow’s military intervention in 2015.
Three prominent advocacy groups from France, Russia and Syria filed the criminal complaint against alleged members of the contractor outfit over the 2017 beheading of a man believed to have deserted from the Syrian army.