Salwa Aksoy, member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC) political committee and Coordinator of the National Commission for the Affairs of the Missing and Detainees, said that the latest report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria and the report that the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, submitted at a meeting held to discussing the situation in Syria should not go unnoticed as the establishment of this mechanism offers a glimmer of hope for thousands of Syrian families.
Aksoy stressed that thousands of Syrian families are still impatiently waiting to hear any news about their loves ones who are forcibly disappeared, missing and detainees in the prisons of the Assad regime. She stressed the importance of establishing such a mechanism, give international bodies and organizations access to the regime prisons, and hold the Assad regime accountable for violating international conventions and human rights.
Aksoy indicated that the move to establish this mechanism comes as a result of the pressures exerted by political and popular organizations towards achieving justice. She stressed that the establishment of such a mechanism is usually the result of the hard work of civil society organizations and the concerted efforts of these organizations and political institutions.
The UN Human Rights Council on Thursday warned of the Assad regime’s continued violations against Syrian citizens, calling for the establishment of an independent mechanism for the issue of detainees and missing persons in Syria in line with on a recommendation put forward by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
Paulo Pinheiro, Chairman of the CoI, welcomed the issuance of the UN Secretary-General’s urgent report on this issue, and his clear recommendation for the establishment of an independent international commission for the missing persons.
Mr. Pinheiro stressed the need to urgently establish a commission that focuses mainly on the victims and survivors; includes the families; and reveal the fate and whereabouts of missing persons.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Ambassador Simon Manley, held the Assad regime primarily responsible for human rights violations in Syria, calling on the international community to immediately hold the violators accountable.
Mr. Manley praised the UN Secretary-General’s report, stressing that it is clear and contains detailed information about human rights violations, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity that continue to occur throughout Syria.
He added that the Assad regime and its allies bear the primary responsibility for these well-documented atrocities, adding that the valuable record of human rights violations in Syria provides an evidentiary basis on which the international community now must act to hold perpetrators to account.
(Source: SOC’s media department)
