May 14, 2026 02:43 am (IST)
Follow us:
UN warns of failure to refer Syria to international court
New York, May 31 (IBNS): A group of independent United Nations human rights experts on Friday emphasized that the United Nations Security Council's inability to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) leaves the door wide open for new atrocities in the ongoing conflict.
Despite repeated appeals by senior UN officials for accountability for crimes being committed in Syria, the Council was unable last week to adopt a resolution referring the situation in the war-torn nation to the ICC, due to vetoes by permanent members Russia and China.
The resolution, which was backed by the other 13 members of the Council, would have given the Court the mandate to investigate the horrific crimes committed during the course of the conflict in Syria, which since March 2011 has witnessed the deaths of over 150,000 civilians, the displacement of millions and widespread violations of human rights.
“The double veto last week to a resolution referring the situation in Syria to the ICC is likely to expose the Syrian population to further gross human rights and humanitarian law violations,” the experts stated in a news release.
“The failure to hold those responsible for the violations to account may fuel further atrocities.”
The experts noted that given the absence of prosecution at the domestic level, it was the Security Council’s responsibility to refer the situation to the ICC.
“Referring the situation in Syria to the ICC would have been an important and most necessary step both to protect civilians against continued and future violations by all sides to the conflict, and to curb impunity for the grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law, some amounting to crimes against humanity,” they added.
Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
The experts speaking out on Syria on Friday deal with freedom of religion or belief; the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; torture; extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; arbitrary detention; and enforced or involuntary disappearances.
[The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Photo: ICC-CPI/Max Koot]
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Putin unleashes ‘Satan 2’: Russia tests ICBM with 35,000 km range
Wed, May 13 2026
Canada FM Anand says country has met NATO’s 2% defence spending target in talks with Rutte
Mon, May 11 2026
Who is Erfan Shakourzadeh? Iran executes young aerospace engineer over alleged US-Mossad spy links
Mon, May 11 2026
Merz says NATO unity remains strong despite US troop pullback plans
Sun, May 10 2026
Iran congratulates White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on baby, revives Minab School strike row
Sun, May 10 2026
Britain stunned as first openly gay surrogate father charged in rape, trafficking case
Sat, May 09 2026