Qatar Stresses Importance of Continuing to Document Violations, Crimes in Syria

Jawhara Al Suwaidi

The State of Qatar affirmed that the Syrian people are in dire need now of protection and a halt to the fighting, calling on all concerned parties to support the negotiations of the Constitutional Committee, as an important step to reach a political solution that meets the legitimate demands of the Syrians based on the Geneva 1 Communique and Security Council Resolution No. 2,254.

This came in the statement of the State of Qatar delivered by Acting Charge d'Affairs of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar in Geneva Jawhara Al Suwaidi during the Interactive Dialogue with the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic before the 49th Human Rights Council under Agenda Item 4.

Al Suwaidi said that the review of the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria coincides with the start of the 12th year of the conflict in this country as the Syrians came out peacefully in March 2011, demanding freedom, justice, and dignity, adding that the Syrian regime faced these demands with rejection and intransigence and chose a military solution, killing its people, committing the most heinous violations, arrests, torture, enforced disappearance, displacement, and besieging civilians, and destroying the country, without differentiation between a house, a school, and a hospital, using heavy, indiscriminate and internationally prohibited weapons such as chemical weapons.

The Acting Charge d'Affairs stated that the painful outcome, documented by UN reports, is widespread human rights violations, hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of displaced people and refugees, complete destruction of infrastructure, depletion of the economy, and a significant increase in the human suffering of the Syrian people, where 90 percent of them live below the poverty line, turning Syria to the arena of conflict and international influence.

At the conclusion of the State of Qatar's statement, Acting Charge d'Affairs of the Permanent Delegation of the State of Qatar in Geneva Jawhara Al Suwaidi underlined the importance of continuing to document violations and crimes in Syria, expressing Qatar's appreciation for all efforts made to ensure an end to the state of impunity and achieve accountability for all those responsible for the violations and crimes committed against the Syrian people. (QNA)