On Tuesday evening 24/10/2017, The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) failed to take a resolution to extend the mandate of the Commission that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the parties involved in this, when the Russian Federation (RF) exercised it’s right of veto in the UNSC against the submitted draft resolution.
It is the ninth veto used by RF since the outbreak of the revolution in March 2011, to disrupt resolutions that aim to identify the human rights violators in Syria and to set up mechanisms that monitor and punish the perpetrators. RF exercised veto to serve its projects in Syria and to support the regime of it’s ally Bashar al-Assad.
The report of the commission responsible for the investigation of the April 4th Sarin gas attacks on the town of Khan Sheikun in Idlib governorate is scheduled to be published on 26/10/2017; the attack claimed the lives of 83 people according to UN sources, and 104 according to the statistics of the SHRC.
The Russian veto preceded the commission’s report by three days, which is likely to condemn the Syrian regime for attacks with toxic chemical gases against the Syrian people, so that the report does not acquire international legal legitimacy.
We, at the Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC), have documented a huge number of gross violations committed by the Russian forces in Syria, their coverage of violations committed by the regime of its ally Bashar Assad, and their support for his crimes against humanity both in the United Nations and in international forums as well as the crimes committed by other actors. We express our dismay at these international bodies that have become useless and ineffective structures which are indifferent to peace, justice and the right of peoples to self-determination. On the other hand, they have become structures that legalise murder, destruction and the use of the most heinous methods of internationally prohibited killing (as stipulated by the United Nations and international treaties) to enable perpetrators to get away with punishment.
We demand and continue to demand that perpetrators of crimes against humanity, crimes of destruction and crimes of chemical killings and indiscriminate bombing be brought to criminal courts and that victims regain their rights for compensation and recognition.
Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC)