We don't know their names but we know their numbers, and we can see the evidence of their torture, thanks to a former crime-scene photographer who says he became a reluctant documenter of murder "on an industrial scale" committed by Bashar Assad's regime in Syria.
The photographer, code-named Caesar to protect his identity after his defection from Syria, says he worked in the military police for 13 years documenting crime scenes and accidents. But after the civil war began, Caesar says, Assad's government put his skill-set to a different use: photographing the bodies of detainees who had been killed by the regime.… Seguir leyendo »
There is a non-lethal way to help ensure that Bashar al-Assad and other perpetrators of atrocities in Syria are held to account not someday far in the future but beginning now.
The U.N. Security Council must move immediately to establish a Syria War Crimes Tribunal. Past ad hoc war crimes tribunals including courts for the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Rwanda have made a difference, but sent thugs to jail after hostilities ended. A new sense of urgency and commitment requires initiating investigations and prosecutions now in order to send a clear message to those who commit genocide— and all those just following orders — that such barbaric behavior has dire personal consequences.… Seguir leyendo »
It’s the foreign policy doctrine that sounds like a Star Wars droid. It’s the argument that a former supreme commander of NATO, Adm. James Stavridis,thinks could be a basis for military action against Syria. And it’s the idea that Washington Post columnist George Will argues by no means justifies a U.S. strike.
The “responsibility to protect” — known in international-relations circles as R2P — is a straightforward, if often misunderstood, notion: Nations must protect their citizens from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, and must take action to help other nations whose governments can’t or won’t protect their peoples.… Seguir leyendo »
Given the allegations currently being leveled at Syrian President Bashar Assad, readers might be wondering why Assad and his senior commanders have not been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court like leaders such as Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir. After all, the court was specifically set up to “have the power to exercise its jurisdiction over persons for the most serious crimes of international concern,” and last month’s chemical attacks certainly fit the bill. A number of NGOs and dozens of countries have called for such a prosecution.
Unfortunately, international law is once again protecting Assad’s violations of international law.… Seguir leyendo »
Nine-year-old Dia'a sat in the back of his father's car on the cool afternoon when a sniper fired a bullet at his heart. His brother Alaa, 15, was seated next to him. Their father sped through the streets desperate to flee shelling that was destroying their neighborhood in Dara'a, in southwest Syria.
The father saw a roadblock and decided to turn around. It was then that the sniper pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced Dia'a's chest, missing the boy's heart by millimeters. Then it careened through his left shoulder and ricocheted into Alaa. Dia'a looked to his left and saw his brother slumped over.… Seguir leyendo »
Eighteen years ago this summer, in a town called Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, the world witnessed the murder of approximately 8,000 Bosnian men and boys and the forced deportation of nearly 30,000 women from their land. Thus Srebrenica became a byword for not only the brutality of the three-year conflict in the former Yugoslavia but also of humanity at its most evil and depraved.
Unlike many organisms, humans are capable of learning from their mistakes. Srebrenica was one tragic mistake with a big lesson.
Yet 18 years after the atrocities of Srebrenica and the trauma of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the worst humanitarian calamity of the 21st century is unfolding in Syria.… Seguir leyendo »
The Rwanda genocide began in April 1994; within a few weeks, nongovernmental organizations there were estimating that 100,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been massacred. Yet two months later, Reuters correspondent Alan Elsner and State Department spokeswoman Christine Shelly had an infamous exchange:
Elsner: “How would you describe the events taking place in Rwanda?”
Shelly: “Based on the evidence we have seen from observations on the ground, we have every reason to believe that acts of genocide have occurred in Rwanda.”
Elsner: “What’s the difference between ‘acts of genocide’ and ‘genocide’?”
Shelly: “Well, I think the — as you know, there’s a legal definition of this.… Seguir leyendo »
Against the background of mounting bloodshed and terror, Switzerland has asked the UN security council to refer the situation in Syria to the International criminal court. The aim is to send out an unequivocal message to all parties "to fully respect international human rights and humanitarian law", a warning that would have "an important dissuasive effect".
The request is supported by more than 50 countries from every part of the world, including several countries with firsthand experience of systematic human rights abuses and impunity, like Chile and Libya. Britain and France support the initiative, but have not so far been joined by the three other permanent members of the security council.… Seguir leyendo »
At a recent meeting hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Peter W. Galbraith, a former American ambassador who witnessed ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia, made a chilling prediction. “The next genocide in the world,” he said, “will likely be against the Alawites in Syria.”
A few months ago, talk of possible massacres of Alawites, who dominate Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, seemed like pro-regime propaganda. Now, it is a real possibility.
For more than a year, Mr. Assad’s government has been committing crimes against humanity in Syria. As it fights for survival on the streets of Aleppo and Damascus, the risk of unrestrained reprisals against Mr.… Seguir leyendo »
The new Human Rights Watch report "Torture Archipelago" documents in excruciating detail the use of torture in government detention facilities in Syria, including how, where, when and under whose command this torture was carried out. Documenting human rights violations in Syria is anything but easy, so how did we do it?
Since the beginning of anti-government demonstrations in March 2011, Syria has been doing whatever it can to keep independent observers from finding out what exactly is going on. For many months, it refused to issue visas for such work, and widespread violations were committed with few independent witnesses.
Some journalists from outside Syria bravely crossed the border without official permission, to provide valuable first-hand accounts of attacks and violations.… Seguir leyendo »
I hope that one day ex-president Bashar al-Assad will stand before the international criminal court charged with crimes against humanity. None of the violence used by other forces in what has become Syria's civil war can diminish his primary responsibility.
Remember that this started as a wave of non-violent demonstrations, in the best manner of the original Arab spring. Assad had the option of responding with significant reforms, which he toyed with; of opening negotiations; or of allowing a peaceful transition, with an honourable, comfortable exit for himself and his family. Instead, he chose to retain power by brutal repression, as his father did before him, including the indiscriminate shelling of civilians.… Seguir leyendo »
When a slow-motion massacre has unfolded over the course of 15 months, it's easy to lose the world's attention. But even the most jaded gasped in horror as news emerged of the latest carnage inflicted on the Syrian people. The images from the town of Houla defied belief.
Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went on a systematic killing spree, murdering at least 108 people. Most shockingly, the killers targeted women and children. A U.N. representative said the victims included 49 children who were younger than 10. The al-Assad regime denied it carried out the atrocities, but U.N. officials said they saw clear evidence that the Syrian government was involved in the attacks.… Seguir leyendo »
Tan pronto como los observadores desarmados de la ONU abandonan una ciudad siria, las fuerzas represoras del régimen de Bachar el Assad reanudan el matadero, triturando el alto el fuego falsamente aceptado por el gobierno represor pocas semanas atrás. Nueva burla a los esfuerzos del mediador de la ONU, Kofi Annan, que nuevamente ha declarado intolerable la actuación gubernamental. Pero esa actuación continúa con toda desvergüenza porque el régimen opresor se sabe firmemente respaldado por Rusia y China, y muy especialmente por la primera, la Rusia de Putin.
Este último, al ser interrogado ante las cámaras por su sistemática posición favorable al Gobierno sirio en el Consejo de Seguridad, respondió en tono airado y con inaudita desfachatez: “Nuestra posición sobre Siria está enfocada a la futura reconciliación de aquella sociedad.”… Seguir leyendo »
Avec ses 8 375 victimes recensées, le génocide de Srebrenica, commis en juillet 1995, est devenu la référence du crime de masse et de l'indignité à ne pas reproduire. Quitte à le banaliser quand une population en est menacée (comme c'est le cas depuis des mois en Syrie), les politiques répètent : "Nous ne laisserons pas un nouveau Srebrenica se reproduire."
Lors de la 20e commémoration du début de la guerre en Bosnie - le 6 avril 1992, quand les forces de Radovan Karadzic mitraillèrent des manifestants pacifistes dans Sarajevo -, force est de reconnaître qu'aucun massacre ne ressemblera plus à celui de Srebrenica : aucun n'oserait reproduire le déni, le "on ne savait pas, on ne pouvait pas savoir" des responsables occidentaux en 1995.… Seguir leyendo »
The United States and other governments don’t want to intervene militarily in Syria. That’s understandable; hardly anyone wants another Middle East war.
In seeking other ways to ensure that the Syrian government and its henchmen pay a price for slaughtering their citizens, United States officials are seeking ways to bring them to justice. A war crimes tribunal run by the Arab League could be the solution. The experience of war-torn countries like Bosnia has proved that such tribunals can work, if properly designed.
Last weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the United States would “support and train Syrian citizens working to document atrocities, identify perpetrators, and safeguard evidence for future investigations and prosecutions.”… Seguir leyendo »
Justice will be a long time coming in Syria, but it can begin with a Security Council referral of the situation in that wounded country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and, ultimately, prosecution. The obstacles are serious, but the goal is imperative.
This week, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé called for such a referral to the ICC during a session of the UN Human Rights Council that sharply attacked the Syrian regime for its deadly assaults on civilians in Homs and elsewhere in Syria. A report by UN legal experts found that crimes against humanity are being waged by Syrian forces against civilians under the leadership of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.… Seguir leyendo »
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