Qatar Stresses Need For Prosecuting War Crimes in Syria
New York/Information Office/ 10 March 2017/ The State of Qatar has emphasized the importance of continuing efforts with the United Nations, UN Member States and civil society to ensure the effective implementation of the international, impartial and independent mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the crimes committed in Syria since 2011.
This came in a high-level event organized by the Permanent Missions of the State of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey held at the UN Headquarters in New York under the title "Aleppo: Humanity Under Siege," during which the audience listened to testimony of three doctors from the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) on the suffering of the besieged population in eastern Aleppo neighborhoods.
In a closing speech of the high-level event, HE Ambassador Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al -Thani, the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations said the presence of these physicians and their colleagues is important to shed light on the true scale of the suffering and crimes committed against the defenseless population of besieged areas in Syria, which remain inaccessible.
The east of Aleppo was the scene of countless crimes against civilians as described in several United Nations reports, she said, adding that people in eastern Aleppo were not only subjected to indiscriminate attacks but they also the "war crime of forced displacement," which should investigated.
Such atrocities committed in Syria were the reason for the establishment of an independent and impartial international mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the crimes committed in Syria since 2011 adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, she said.
In this context, Ambassador Al-Thani warned of impunity, which has contributed to the systematic escalation of violence and atrocities, stressing the importance and necessity of starting a campaign to prevent the recurrence of similar atrocities on any scale.
Concluding, HE Ambassador Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al -Thani reiterated the need to reach a political solution to the crisis in Syria to end the bloodshed on the basis of the Geneva communique and Security Council resolution 2254 to meet the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.