The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said that the investigation carried out by the SNHR into the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons in al Kbaina village in rural Latakia has contributed to reinforcing the U.S. Department of State’s investigation, which proved the Assad regime’s responsibility for this chemical attack.
The Network on Wednesday said that it signed Memorandum of Understanding with the United States to contribute to the investigation and accountability processes.
The MoU was signed “to participate in the investigations carried out by the United States into some of these violations, and to place the greatest possible number of those involved in these violations on the lists of economic and political sanctions; this will constitute a major impediment to any effort to rehabilitate the Syrian regime in all its organs, and serve as an important form of accountability that’s previously been unavailable.”
The statement added: “On February 26, 2019, the SNHR signed another Memorandum of Understanding, this time with the United Nations’ International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible, according to international law, for the most serious crimes committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011. The IIIM has received a large quantity of data extracted from the SNHR database.”
The Network went on to say that the SNHR has also entered into discussions with several European countries in order to sign similar agreements aimed at sharing data to be used in justice and accountability cases, exposing the perpetrators of violations and obstructing the rehabilitation of the Syrian regime, tens of thousands of whose officials and members are directly involved in committing crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The statement also noted that the SNHR has been actively cooperating with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, as well as with a number of special rapporteurs such as the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and the Special Rapporteur on torture.
“The statement calls on all the countries of the world to do everything in their power to ensure that no government or regime violates the Geneva Conventions and that every effort is made to hold those which do so accountable; such efforts would also contribute significantly to deterring any regime from considering following the example of the Syrian regime by allying with Russia or China to protect it in the UN Security Council and thus being granted impunity to continue to commit crimes indefinitely.” (Source: Syrian National Coalition’s Media Department)
