Amnesty International submitted the following written statement to the 18th Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic that was held in Geneva, on 2 December 2011. <\/p>\n
For more than eight months Amnesty International has documented extensively crimes against humanity, and other human rights violations, that have been committed and continue to be committed in Syria. \u00a0We have highlighted the failure of Syrian authorities to investigate and prosecute such crimes and emphasized the consequent need for the Security Council to refer the situation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as a significant first step to end impunity. \u00a0 <\/p>\n
Amnesty International has obtained the names of more than 3,290 people, over 200 of them children, who are reported to have been killed in the unrest in Syria since mid-March. The vast majority are believed to have been killed by the army and security forces, many of them during protests and security operations in residential areas. Over 170 of them are believed to have died in detention in highly suspicious circumstances. <\/p>\n
Reports of deaths of members of the army and security forces have been increasing in recent weeks. Many have allegedly been killed in clashes with the Free Syrian Army, formed in July and composed in part of defected army personnel, and others who have taken up arms with the stated intention of protecting their neighbourhoods. Amnesty International has collated the names of more than 300 killed soldiers and members of the security forces provided by Syrian state media. Amnesty International also has the names of 50 civilians reported to have been killed by armed individuals apparently not linked to the state and of more than 100 armed individuals believed to be opposed to the state thought to have been killed in direct clashes with security forces. <\/p>\n
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has put the number of people who have died since the unrest began at more than 4,000. Violence continues to this day, notwithstanding the broken promises of the Syrian authorities to bring an end to it. More than 25 people are reported to have been killed in the last few days. <\/p>\n
Thousands of people have been arrested in connection with the unrest, with many of them detained incommunicado in detention centres run by unaccountable intelligence agencies with powers of arrest and detention. Some are believed to have been held in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance as the authorities have effectively concealed their whereabouts from their families. Released detainees commonly allege they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated in such centres and that such ill-treatment is rife. <\/p>\n
Amnesty International’s most recent report on abuses and crimes being committed in Syria documents how the Syrian government has even turned hospitals into instruments of repression in its efforts to crush opposition. It documents how the Syrian authorities seem to have given security forces free rein to subject wounded patients in at least four government-run hospitals to torture and other ill-treatment. Amnesty International, Health crisis: Syrian government targets the wounded and health workers<\/u><\/em><\/a>(Index: MDE 24\/059\/2011), October 2011. In many cases, hospital staff appear to have taken part in the torture and other ill-treatment. Other hospital workers suspected of treating protesters and others injured in unrest-related incidents have themselves faced arrest and torture. <\/p>\n On 2 November, Syria pledged to abide by the peace plan of the League of Arab States and cease the violence, withdraw its troops from cities, release prisoners, and allow in independent journalists and human rights monitors. These pledges have not been fulfilled. <\/p>\n In its recently published report the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (the Commission of Inquiry or the Commission) confirmed that gross violations of human rights have been committed by Syrian military and security forces since the beginning of the protests in March 2011. U.N. Doc. A\/HRC\/S-17\/2\/Add.1 of 28 November 2011. The Commission also expressed its grave concern that crimes against humanity have been committed by Syrian military and security forces during their violent crackdown on demonstrators this year. <\/p>\n Given its failure to ensure accountability not only during these events, but also over many years, there is little reason to believe that the Syrian authorities will establish independent investigations into the violations, abuses and crimes and prosecute the suspects. On 12 October, the Syrian government said it would establish its own investigation and added that it would cooperate with the UN once the investigation was completed. However, the government has released no information about its investigation. Amnesty International is not aware of any prompt, thorough, independent or impartial investigations having been initiated regarding the crimes against humanity, or other violations, committed in 2011 and it is not aware of a single prosecution of anyone suspected of such crimes. <\/p>\n Victims of crimes against humanity and other human rights violations are entitled to full reparation, including rehabilitation, restitution, compensation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. As of 2 December 2011, no victims are known to have received any reparation for these crimes. <\/p>\n