President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition (SOC), Nasr Al-Hariri, sent a letter to Head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, expressing reservations about some of the paragraphs in the report that the Commission presented to the Human Rights Council at its 45th session.
The letter said that the SOC “have carefully read and reviewed your latest report prepared to the Human Rights Council at its forty-fifth session. We believe that violations committed by the regime could have been better displayed in a more detailed fashion.
“While we welcome your monitoring of the continuous, systematic crimes committed by the Assad regime and its supporters, and their description of war crimes and crimes against humanity, we-kindly- ask that we find in your recommendations what is commensurate with the gravity of the proven crimes, especially since you referred to the reports of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Investigation Committee assigned by the Secretary-General, those confirming the regime’s high military leadership’s involvement in targeting civilians in hospitals, and by targeting schools, hospitals and refugee camps.”
Al-Hariri added: “Whereas we highly appreciate your hard work to clarify the truth, according to the information received by you; and given the fact that we are keen to continue constructive cooperation with you, in order to provide justice for the victims and prevent impunity for the perpetrators; we believe the information we have provided could be better reflected in the report.”
“Additionally, we recall that the continued targeting of civilians by PKK / PYD / YPG terrorist organizations leads to deeper instability in the region. Thus, we affirm that we are making redoubled efforts to contribute to the protection of human rights and to help implement the principles of the rule of law.”
Al-Hariri called on the Commission to share the “details of the alleged cases in the Afrin and Ras al-Ain regions, in order to refer them to the national judiciary in our liberated areas, to investigate them, to hold accountable those who are found guilty, and to redress those whose rights are proven.”
“We affirm that the violations allegedly committed by some members of the National Army, could be merely individual actions and un- systematic, for when they were brought to our attention, they were immediately referred to the judiciary.”
He went on: “Our responsibilities towards our revolution, our people in the liberated areas, and all the Syrian people, as well as ourselves, make it necessary for us to consider what was stated in your report.”
“The National Authority for the Defense of Detainees and Human Rights and the Legal Committee are independent and specialized bodies of the SOC, giving great attention to cooperation with your esteemed committee, and they work to audit the contents, investigate and follow-up incidents and verify whether they actually occurred or others occurred without being documented as necessary.” (Source: SOC’s Media Department)
