Qatar Calls for Holding Accountable All Those Responsible for Violations and Crimes in Syria

The State of Qatar has affirmed that ensuring accountability and criminal justice along with holding accountable all those responsible for violations and crimes in Syria will contribute to putting an end to these crimes and violations, stressing the need to hold accountable all those responsible for such violations and crimes.
This came during a side event on the next steps to activate accountability mechanism in Syria organized today by Qatar's Permanent Mission to UN in Geneva in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of the Principality of Liechtenstein on the margins of 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council.
In a speech before the event, HE Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations in Vienna Ambassador Ali Khalfan Al Mansouri said it has become clear to all based on reports and documents published by the United Nations and other reliable bodies that most serious violations and atrocities committed against the Syrian people since the outbreak of the peaceful Syrian revolution in 2011 were carried out by the Syrian regime and its allies, and that these violations and crimes continued to increase and escalate with total impunity both at the national and international level.
Al Mansouri stressed that all those responsible for these violations and crimes must be held accountable if the international community is to proceed with upholding the rule of law, justice and establishing security and peace in Syria which witnessed most egregious violations and humanitarian tragedies, adding that many countries, including Qatar, believe that the absence of accountability for violations and crimes committed in Syria was a major cause for committing further violations and crimes.
The Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations pointed out that after the Security Council's inability to refer the violations and crimes committed in Syria to the International Criminal Court, and for reasons well known to all, countries supporting the Syrian people tried on many occasions and events to highlight the accountability issue, including at the United Nations General Assembly where the Principality Liechtenstein and the State of Qatar presented a decision to establish an independent, impartial international mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the crimes committed against humanity in Syria. The decision was adopted on 21 December 2016, and received the support of 105 countries, he added.

Source: QNA