Head of the opposition High Negotiations Committee’s (HNC) delegation to Geneva talks Nasr Hariri stressed that time has come to hold to account perpetrators of atrocities in Syria as the Assad regime continues its war against the Syrian people, now in its seventh year.
“The world must act to stop human rights violations in Syria,” Hariri told reporters in Geneva as a fresh round of talks between the opposition and the Assad regime began on Tuesday.
The dossier of human rights violations will be present in the current round of negotiations, Hariri said.
Hariri’s remarks came in response to reports by the US States Department that it has evidence that the Assad regime had set up a crematorium to dispose of bodies of detainees at Sednaya prison.
The United Nations has repeatedly received reports of “atrocities being committed in Syria,” which makes the issue of accountability a “critical one,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.
Asked if reports about the presence of a crematorium in Sednaya prison could ramp up the UNSG concern, Dujarric pointed out that the UN General Assembly had already voted to put forward an accountability mechanism for violations in Syria.
Amnesty International reported in February that an average of 20 to 50 people were hanged each week at the Sednaya military prison north of Damascus. Between 5,000 and 13,000 people were executed at the facility between 2011 and 2015, According to Amnesty’s report. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)
