UN
warns Syria heading to
destruction By Thalif Deen
Following its failed efforts to contain
the 19-month-old insurrection in battle-torn
Syria, the United Nations has issued a new
warning: the besieged country is heading towards
"destruction". A much-publicized ceasefire for the
Islamic holiday of Eid-ul-Adha last month was
violated by both warring factions, while a video
of summary executions of Syrian soldiers has
triggered charges of war crimes against the
opposition.
At this point, no one in Syria
- not the government, not the rebels - can emerge
from the crisis with an unsullied reputation. Both
factions are now strong candidates to face charges
before the International Criminal Court for crimes
against humanity.
Lakhdar Brahimi, the
joint special representative of the United Nations
and the League of Arab States, has also hit a dead-end
both with the Syrian
government and the rebel groups fighting to oust
President Bashar al-Assad, who is refusing to step
down or agree to a political compromise.
"The United Nations remains helpless
against the political and military complexities
inside Syria," says one Asian diplomat.
This may well be one of the biggest
political failures of the United Nations, he said,
pointing out the sharp divisions in the Security
Council where China and Russia have already vetoed
three Western-inspired resolutions against Assad.
Brahimi, who recently visited Moscow and
Beijing, returned virtually empty-handed. Briefing
the Security Council Tuesday, Jeffrey Feltman,
under-secretary-general for political affairs,
said the situation inside Syria is turning grimmer
every day, and the risk is growing that this
crisis could explode outward into an already
volatile region.
He said there are signs
of this spillover in Lebanon and Turkey, as well
as activities in recent days in the area of UN
peacekeeping operations in the Golan.
Feltman provided a grim scenario of the
new reports of atrocities: "a shocking video" of
alleged executions of captured soldiers by
opposition forces; credible reports of the use of
cluster bombs by the government; as well as
fighter jet strikes reportedly firing in Damascus
for the first time and continued shelling of
population centers. Additionally, he said, car
bombings have increased and activists reported 250
deaths on Monday alone, he said.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation
remains dire: over 382,000 refugees, more than 2.5
million in need of assistance, and continued
difficulties of access and funding with winter
approaching. "The current path will lead Syria to
its destruction," he warned.
Clearly,
there is a need to shift away from the military
logic that is prevailing at the moment.
"The solution must be arrived at through a
political process. It has to be a Syrian-led
process; it can't be imposed. It must bring real
change and a clean break from the past," Feltman
told the Security Council.
Navi Pillay,
the UN high commissioner for human rights, has
monitored the violence, executions and the
killings of civilians since March 2011 when the
crisis erupted. She told the Human Rights Council
last month the situation amounts almost to a
terrible disregard - and contempt - for the
protection of civilians, as the country plunges
ever deeper into conflict.
"Human rights
abuses are rampant, and have reached the point
where mass killings, summary executions and
torture are the norm," Pillay said. In addition,
she said, the humanitarian situation is
deteriorating rapidly with tens of thousands of
civilians now suffering shortages of food, water,
electricity, employment and other basic
necessities.
Gross violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law
continue to take place every day. Thousands have
been killed, thousands more injured.
"As
we speak, civilians, including children, are
continuing to be injured and killed in Syria
virtually every hour of every day ... No end to
the conflict is in sight," she said, pointing out
that she fully supports the initiatives by
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Brahimi, "whose
job, as he himself has said, appears at this point
to be close to impossible."
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