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Ending Unlawful Attacks; Access to Aid; Detainee Rights; Justice; Security Sector Reform<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n +++ French Below the English Copy +++<\/p>\n (Geneva, February 21, 2017) \u2013 Participants in the February 23, 2017, UN-sponsored Syria<\/a> peace talks in Geneva should prioritize five key human rights issues during negotiations, 37 human rights and other organizations said today. The priorities are to end unlawful attacks, ensure aid access and safe passage for fleeing civilians, detainee rights, justice, and security sector reform.<\/p>\n Achieving respect and promotion for human rights during any transition and post-conflict will require key legislative and constitutional amendments to enshrine rights protection in law, the groups said. This should include a constitutional amendment that states that all ratified international treaties and law are binding in Syria. The transformation of Syria into a state that respects human rights and upholds the rule of law should be a Syrian-led process, with transparent reform following local consultations.<\/p>\n Other countries attending the UN-led meetings in Geneva should use their influence over the warring Syrian factions to ensure that the basic human rights of Syrians are on the agenda.<\/p>\n The UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has explained that the agenda at the talks will mirror the objectives outlined in UN Security Council Resolution 2254 from December 2015. In the resolution, the Security Council expressed its support for establishing inclusive and non-sectarian governance, the drafting of a new constitution, and free and fair elections. It emphasized the need for \u201ca ceasefire monitoring, verification and reporting mechanism\u201d; called on the parties to facilitate the unhindered delivery of aid and the release of anyone held arbitrarily; and demanded an end to attacks on civilians and civilian objects and the indiscriminate use of weapons.<\/p>\n End to Unlawful Attacks<\/strong><\/p>\n While the parties to the negotiations are striving to negotiate peace, any transition agreement should make explicit that the parties to the conflict will adhere to the laws of war in any ongoing fighting. Any agreement should include a commitment by Syrian government and Russian forces to immediately stop using indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary weapons and to end indiscriminate attacks on populated civilian areas and other unlawful attacks.<\/p>\n Opposition forces should also agree to end indiscriminate and other unlawful attacks, including with car bombs and mortar strikes on civilian areas under government control. The US-led coalition should take necessary precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure and should ensure that credible reports of civilian casualties are effectively and impartially investigated and publicly reported on.<\/p>\n Despite a ceasefire in late December 2016, unlawful attacks continue, including in Wadi Barada<\/a> in the Damascus countryside, Idlib, and other parts of the country. In the early morning hours of February 1, an airstrike hit the Syrian Arab Red Crescent building in Idlib, injuring the center\u2019s director and badly damaging the building. On February 10, UNICEF reported that at least 20 children<\/a> had been killed in violence in Idlib, al-Zahraa, and al-Waer neighborhoods in Homs, and in Eastern Ghouta, in the Damascus countryside.<\/p>\n In light of the Syrian government\u2019s repeated war crimes and widespread and systematic human rights violations, including the unlawful use of weapons, all states, including those involved in the negotiations, should make a commitment to stop transferring all arms, related equipment, and logistical support to the Syrian government until the abuses stop and responsible parties are held to account. States should also stop providing such support to armed opposition groups that have been found responsible for widespread or systematic human rights abuses or war crimes.<\/p>\n The US-led coalition should take fully into account that the Russia-Syria coalition has repeatedly committed war crimes under the guise of fighting terrorism, and that any cooperation with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Syria should ensure that it is not complicit in such crimes.<\/p>\n Humanitarian Access and Safe Evacuation of Civilians<\/strong><\/p>\n Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict are obligated to facilitate rapid and unimpeded aid to all civilians in need and allow civilians to freely leave an area under siege. Starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian<\/a> (OCHA), 4.9 million people live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas in Syria. These areas suffer from bombing and inadequate aid, nutrition, water, and medical care.<\/p>\n The siege of civilian areas by government and pro-government forces and by armed opposition groups and blocking of aid delivery has continued despite the ceasefire. Conditions in areas besieged by government and pro-government forces have rapidly deteriorated, forcing civilians to leave these areas.<\/p>\n According to OCHA<\/a>, 4 million people in Damascus and its environs were cut off from drinking water from then-opposition-controlled Wadi Barada and Ain-el-Fijah \u201cdue to deliberate targeting resulting in the damaged infrastructure.\u201d Bellingcat, a citizen investigative journalist group that investigated the damage to the water supply found that \u201cthe most likely scenario is that the regime was responsible for the damage<\/a> to the spring structure.\u201d The civilian population in Damascus was without clean water for weeks while the parties exchanged accusations and negotiated a deal for repairing the supply line.<\/p>\n In February 2014, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2139 to guarantee the delivery of aid, calling on all sides in the Syrian war to facilitate humanitarian access to all parts of Syria. In light of the Syrian government\u2019s failure to comply, the council passed resolution 2165 on July 14, 2014, authorizing UN agencies and their implementing partners to deliver aid across four borders not controlled by Syria\u2019s government in addition to those already in use. Resolution 2165 was renewed<\/a> in December 2016 until January 10, 2018.<\/p>\n Despite the Syrian government\u2019s persistent non-compliance with the UN Security Council\u2019s resolutions on immediate aid delivery, the council has not taken any further measures, despite affirming that it would in resolution 2165. On December 5, Russia once again used its veto to block UN Security Council action on Syria. The draft resolution would have called for a seven-day pause in hostilities in Aleppo and demanded safe access to provide aid.<\/p>\n Concerned governments should push both the Syrian government and opposition delegations to make an immediate commitment to allow all civilians who wish to leave besieged areas to do so and to allow immediate access for aid to come in across border and conflict lines, without impediment.<\/p>\n All parties to the conflict should commit to ensuring that any evacuations of civilians are conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law. UN and other institutions should be given access to monitor and report on evacuations. Evacuations of civilians should be voluntary and to places of their choosing, and both those that choose to remain or to flee should be protected.<\/p>\n Justice<\/strong><\/p>\n On December 21, 2016, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing a unit to assist in the investigation of serious crimes<\/a> committed in Syria since 2011, which will help pave the way to justice after years of unchecked atrocities. Countries that voted for this unprecedented resolution should support the investigative unit, including by contributing financial resources to its work. This and other documentation efforts, including by the UN Commission of Inquiry, will be vital to future domestic and international accountability processes. These initiatives may help build some momentum for justice as well as send a strong message to Syrian victims that serious crimes committed against them won\u2019t go unanswered.<\/p>\n The parties to the conflict, including the Syrian government, should make a commitment to cooperate with the investigative unit and the UN Commission of Inquiry.<\/p>\n The international community should continue to work to lay the groundwork for a concrete and credible justice process for the long-term. Governments that supported efforts to give the International Criminal Court (ICC) a mandate in Syria should remain committed to seeking justice for victims, whether in the UN Security Council, UN General Assembly, UN Human Rights Council, or through other avenues, including the use of universal jurisdiction. Other countries should make clear that justice is an essential component of any future peace \u2013 including at any negotiations in Geneva.<\/p>\n Proposals to grant immunity to anyone implicated in serious crimes should be rejected. The parties should also make a commitment to review and amend any provision in Syrian law that grants immunity to security forces and to carry out broader reforms to equip the country\u2019s justice system to address serious crimes alongside other tribunals, including potentially the ICC.<\/p>\n Broader truth-seeking mechanisms and programs for ensuring reparation for victims and families, and vetting to bar perpetrators from official positions will also be needed. Any agreement should include a commitment by the negotiating parties to a national commission with a mandate to reveal the fate of the disappeared and to investigate torture, extrajudicial executions, and other serious human rights violations.<\/p>\n Security Sector Reform and Release of Detainees\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the beginning of the uprising in Syria, security forces have arbitrarily arrested, unlawfully detained, forcibly disappeared, and ill-treated, tortured, and killed thousands of people, using an extensive network of detention facilities throughout the country. Those arrested include peaceful protesters, human rights defenders, and activists involved in organizing, filming, and reporting on protests as well as journalists, aid providers, lawyers, and doctors.<\/p>\n Any transitional plan needs to include a commitment to establish an independent vetting mechanism for current and potential senior security officials. Any against whom there is evidence suggesting their involvement in crimes under international law and other serious human rights abuses should be suspended from their positions or prevented from taking up new security positions pending a full investigation. Wherever there is sufficient admissible evidence of responsibility for international crimes, suspects should be prosecuted in fair trials.<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s multiple security agencies should also be required to report to and be accountable to any transitional government. The parties should agree to institutional reforms aimed at ensuring that the human rights violations of the past will not be repeated.<\/p>\n A large number of peaceful protesters, and political and humanitarian activists remain in incommunicado detention while others have faced trial, some of them before military and counterterrorism courts, for exercising their rights. Armed opposition groups, mainly in opposition-held territory in northern Syria, have also arbitrarily detained people, including journalists, aid workers, and activists who have criticized them.<\/p>\n Any agreement should include a commitment to release political detainees, journalists, aid workers, and human rights activists in their custody and to grant independent monitors access to detention facilities and to all those deprived of their liberty. One effective way to ensure these steps would be to create an independent commission to review cases of those detained, monitor their treatment in detention, and ensure their release. To properly pursue its mission, the commission should be granted access to all detention facilities.<\/p>\n The parties should also make a commitment to repeal or reform laws that criminalize the exercise of the rights to peaceful expression, assembly, and association, including the July 2012 counterterrorism law, which criminalizes nonviolent activism and opposition to the government. An explicit commitment should be made to not detain or prosecute aid workers who were operating in opposition-held territory, including those who provided medical assistance to the sick, injured, or wounded \u2013 whether civilians or fighters \u2013 in accordance with the laws of war.<\/p>\n The parties should also commit to enshrining in Syrian law all the basic protections and safeguards for detainees guaranteed by international law, including the prohibition of arbitrary detention, the obligation to inform a person who is arrested of the reasons, and the obligation to provide detainees with an opportunity to challenge the lawfulness of detention by a court. Those deprived of their liberty, regardless of where they are held, should have regular access to lawyers, family members, and medics.<\/p>\n Signatories<\/strong><\/p>\n +++++ \u00a0French +++++++<\/p>\n Syrie\u00a0: faire des droits humains une priorit\u00e9 des pourparlers de Gen\u00e8ve<\/strong><\/p>\n Mettre fin aux attaques ill\u00e9gales\u00a0; acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l\u2019aide\u00a0; droits des d\u00e9tenus\u00a0; justice\u00a0; r\u00e9forme du secteur de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n (Gen\u00e8ve, le 21\u00a0f\u00e9vrier\u00a02017)\u00a0 \u2013 Aujourd\u2019hui, 37\u00a0organisations de d\u00e9fense des droits humains et d\u2019autres organismes ont d\u00e9clar\u00e9 que les participants aux pourparlers de paix de Gen\u00e8ve organis\u00e9s par les Nations Unies le 23\u00a0f\u00e9vrier\u00a02017 devraient se concentrer sur cinq grands enjeux dans le domaine des droits humains au cours de ces n\u00e9gociations. Les priorit\u00e9s imm\u00e9diates sont de mettre un terme aux attaques ill\u00e9gales, de garantir un acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l\u2019aide ainsi qu\u2019un passage sans danger pour les civils en fuite, de d\u00e9fendre les droits des d\u00e9tenus, et d\u2019assurer la justice et la r\u00e9forme du secteur de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9.<\/p>\n Pour faire respecter et promouvoir les droits humains pendant une p\u00e9riode de transition ou apr\u00e8s un conflit, il est n\u00e9cessaire d\u2019\u00e9laborer des modifications constitutionnelles et l\u00e9gislatives majeures afin d\u2019inscrire dans la loi la protection de ces droits, rappellent ces organisations. Cette d\u00e9marche devrait englober une modification constitutionnelle stipulant que l\u2019ensemble des lois et des trait\u00e9s internationaux ratifi\u00e9s sont obligatoires en Syrie. La transformation de la Syrie en un \u00c9tat qui respecte les droits humains et maintient l\u2019\u00e9tat de droit est un processus que les Syriens devraient piloter, en appliquant une r\u00e9forme transparente \u00e0 l\u2019issue de consultations locales.<\/p>\n Les autres pays participants aux r\u00e9unions des Nations Unies \u00e0 Gen\u00e8ve devraient user de leur influence sur les factions syriennes en conflit pour faire en sorte que les droits humains fondamentaux des Syriens figurent \u00e0 l\u2019ordre du jour.<\/p>\n L\u2019envoy\u00e9 sp\u00e9cial de l\u2019ONU pour la Syrie, Staffan de Mistura, a expliqu\u00e9 que l\u2019ordre du jour de ces n\u00e9gociations refl\u00e8terait les objectifs pr\u00e9sent\u00e9s dans la r\u00e9solution\u00a02254 du Conseil de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 des Nations Unies de d\u00e9cembre\u00a02015. Dans cette r\u00e9solution, le Conseil de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 s\u2019est d\u00e9clar\u00e9 favorable \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tablissement d\u2019une gouvernance inclusive et non sectaire, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9laboration d\u2019une nouvelle constitution et \u00e0 des \u00e9lections libres et \u00e9quitables. Il a soulign\u00e9 la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 de mettre en place un \u00ab\u00a0m\u00e9canisme de suivi, de v\u00e9rification et de surveillance du cessez-le-feu\u00a0\u00bb, engag\u00e9 les parties \u00e0 faciliter l\u2019acheminement de l\u2019aide humanitaire sans entraves et la lib\u00e9ration de toute personne d\u00e9tenue arbitrairement, et exig\u00e9 qu\u2019il soit mis un terme aux attaques sur les civils et les biens de caract\u00e8re civil ainsi qu\u2019\u00e0 l\u2019utilisation aveugle d\u2019armes.<\/p>\n Mettre fin aux attaques ill\u00e9gales<\/strong><\/p>\n Tandis que les parties aux n\u00e9gociations s\u2019efforcent de n\u00e9gocier la paix, tout accord de transition devrait clairement pr\u00e9ciser que les parties au conflit respecteront les lois de la guerre dans la poursuite des combats. Toute entente conclue devrait inclure un engagement du gouvernement syrien et des forces russes \u00e0 cesser imm\u00e9diatement d\u2019utiliser des armes d\u2019emploi aveugle, telles que les armes \u00e0 sous-munitions et les armes incendiaires, et \u00e0 mettre un terme aux attaques sans discrimination contre des zones civiles peupl\u00e9es ainsi qu\u2019\u00e0 d\u2019autres attaques ill\u00e9gales.<\/p>\n Les opposants devraient par ailleurs accepter de mettre un terme aux attaques sans discrimination et autres attaques ill\u00e9gales, notamment les attentats \u00e0 la voiture pi\u00e9g\u00e9e et les tirs de mortier sur des zones civiles sous contr\u00f4le gouvernemental. La coalition men\u00e9e par les \u00c9tats-Unis devrait prendre les pr\u00e9cautions n\u00e9cessaires pour minimiser les torts caus\u00e9s aux civils et aux infrastructures civiles et veiller \u00e0 ce que des rapports cr\u00e9dibles faisant \u00e9tat des pertes civiles soient examin\u00e9s objectivement et rendus publics.<\/p>\n Malgr\u00e9 un cessez-le-feu en d\u00e9cembre\u00a02016, les attaques ill\u00e9gales se poursuivent, notamment \u00e0 Wadi Barada<\/a> pr\u00e8s de Damas, \u00e0 Idleb et dans d\u2019autres r\u00e9gions du pays. Aux petites heures du 1er\u00a0<\/sup>f\u00e9vrier, une frappe a\u00e9rienne a touch\u00e9 le b\u00e2timent du Croissant-Rouge arabe syrien \u00e0 Idleb, blessant le directeur du centre et endommageant s\u00e9rieusement l\u2019\u00e9difice. Le 10\u00a0f\u00e9vrier, UNICEF a signal\u00e9<\/a> qu\u2019au moins 20\u00a0enfants avaient trouv\u00e9 la mort dans des actes de violence \u00e0 Idleb, \u00e0 Zahraa et dans le quartier Al-Waer de Homs, ainsi que dans la Ghouta orientale, aux abords de Damas.<\/p>\n Au regard de l\u2019ampleur des crimes de guerre commis par le gouvernement syrien et des nombreuses violations syst\u00e9matiques des droits humains, notamment l\u2019utilisation ill\u00e9gale d\u2019armes, tous les \u00c9tats, y compris ceux impliqu\u00e9s dans les n\u00e9gociations, devraient s\u2019engager \u00e0 mettre fin aux transferts d\u2019armes, de mat\u00e9riel connexe et de soutien logistique au gouvernement syrien, tant que ces attaques se poursuivront et que les parties responsables ne seront pas oblig\u00e9es de rendre des comptes. Les \u00c9tats devraient \u00e9galement arr\u00eater d\u2019offrir leur soutien aux groupes d\u2019opposition arm\u00e9s reconnus coupables de violations massives et syst\u00e9matiques des droits humains et de crimes de guerre.<\/p>\n La coalition men\u00e9e par les \u00c9tats-Unis devrait prendre pleinement en consid\u00e9ration le fait que l\u2019alliance Russie-Syrie a commis \u00e0 plusieurs reprises des crimes de guerre sous pr\u00e9texte de lutter contre le terrorisme et toute coop\u00e9ration avec la Russie dans le cadre de la lutte contre l\u2019\u00c9tat islamique (aussi connu sous le nom d\u2019ISIS) en Syrie devrait veiller \u00e0 ne pas \u00eatre complice de tels crimes.<\/p>\n Acc\u00e8s \u00e0 l\u2019aide humanitaire et \u00e9vacuation en toute s\u00e9curit\u00e9 des civils <\/strong><\/p>\n En vertu du droit humanitaire international, toutes les parties \u00e0 un conflit arm\u00e9 sont oblig\u00e9es de faciliter une intervention humanitaire rapide et sans entraves pour les civils dans le besoin et de permettre aux civils de quitter librement une r\u00e9gion en \u00e9tat de si\u00e8ge. Il est strictement interdit d\u2019affamer la population civile comme tactique de guerre. Selon le Bureau des Nations Unies pour la coordination des affaires humanitaires<\/a> (BCAH),\u00a04,9\u00a0millions de personnes vivent dans des zones assi\u00e9g\u00e9es ou difficilement accessibles en Syrie. Ces r\u00e9gions subissent des bombardements et souffrent du manque d\u2019aide, de nourriture, d\u2019eau et de soins m\u00e9dicaux.<\/p>\n Tout comme le blocage des convois humanitaires, le si\u00e8ge de zones civiles par le gouvernement, les forces progouvernementales et les groupes d\u2019opposition arm\u00e9s se poursuit malgr\u00e9 le cessez-le-feu. Les conditions dans ces zones assi\u00e9g\u00e9es par le gouvernement et les forces progouvernementales se sont rapidement d\u00e9t\u00e9rior\u00e9es, contraignant les civils \u00e0 fuir.<\/p>\n D\u2019apr\u00e8s le BCAH<\/a>, quatre millions de personnes \u00e0 Damas et dans ses environs ont \u00e9t\u00e9 priv\u00e9es d\u2019eau potable par les groupes d\u2019opposition qui contr\u00f4laient alors Wadi Barada et Ain al-Fijah. \u00ab\u00a0Les installations, prises d\u00e9lib\u00e9r\u00e9ment pour cible, ont fini par \u00eatre endommag\u00e9es\u00a0\u00bb. Bellingcat, un groupe de journalistes d\u2019investigation citoyens, qui a enqu\u00eat\u00e9 sur l\u2019endommagement des r\u00e9serves d\u2019eau, a conclu <\/a>\u00a0que \u00ab\u00a0le sc\u00e9nario le plus probable \u00e9tait que le r\u00e9gime \u00e9tait responsable des dommages caus\u00e9s \u00e0 la structure \u00e0 ressort\u00a0\u00bb. La population civile de Damas s\u2019est retrouv\u00e9e priv\u00e9e d\u2019eau potable pendant plusieurs semaines, tandis que les diff\u00e9rentes parties au conflit s\u2019accusaient mutuellement et tentaient de n\u00e9gocier un accord pour r\u00e9parer le syst\u00e8me d\u2019alimentation.<\/p>\n En f\u00e9vrier\u00a02014, le Conseil de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019ONU a adopt\u00e9 la r\u00e9solution\u00a02139 visant \u00e0 garantir l\u2019acheminement de l\u2019aide humanitaire, en appelant toutes les parties au conflit syrien \u00e0 faciliter l\u2019acc\u00e8s humanitaire dans toutes les r\u00e9gions de la Syrie. Le gouvernement syrien n\u2019ayant pas respect\u00e9 cette r\u00e9solution, le Conseil a adopt\u00e9, le 14\u00a0juillet\u00a02014, la r\u00e9solution\u00a02165 qui autorise les agences humanitaires de l\u2019ONU et leurs partenaires d\u2019ex\u00e9cution \u00e0 fournir de l\u2019aide au-del\u00e0 de quatre fronti\u00e8res non contr\u00f4l\u00e9es par le gouvernement syrien en sus de celles d\u00e9j\u00e0 utilis\u00e9es. La r\u00e9solution\u00a02165 a \u00e9t\u00e9 renouvel\u00e9e<\/a> en d\u00e9cembre\u00a02016 jusqu\u2019au 10\u00a0janvier\u00a02018.<\/p>\n Malgr\u00e9 le non-respect persistant du gouvernement syrien \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard des r\u00e9solutions du Conseil de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019ONU sur l\u2019acheminement de l\u2019aide imm\u00e9diat, le Conseil n\u2019a pas pris de mesures suppl\u00e9mentaires, alors qu\u2019il avait affirm\u00e9 le contraire dans sa r\u00e9solution\u00a02165. Le\u00a05\u00a0d\u00e9cembre, la Russie a une nouvelle fois utilis\u00e9 son droit de veto pour bloquer l\u2019action du Conseil de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019ONU en Syrie. Ce projet de r\u00e9solution appelait \u00e0 une interruption des hostilit\u00e9s pendant sept jours \u00e0 Alep et exigeait un acc\u00e8s s\u00e9curis\u00e9 pour apporter de l\u2019aide.<\/p>\n Les \u00c9tats concern\u00e9s devraient pousser le gouvernement syrien et les d\u00e9l\u00e9gations de l\u2019opposition \u00e0 prendre un engagement imm\u00e9diat pour que les citoyens qui le d\u00e9sirent puissent quitter les zones assi\u00e9g\u00e9es et afin de permettre aux convois humanitaires de franchir les fronti\u00e8res et les lignes de conflit sans entraves.<\/p>\n Toutes les parties au conflit devraient promettre de mener l\u2019\u00e9vacuation des civils conform\u00e9ment au droit international humanitaire. L\u2019ONU et les autres institutions devraient b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier d\u2019un acc\u00e8s pour suivre les \u00e9vacuations et en faire le rapport. Les \u00e9vacuations des civils doivent \u00eatre volontaires et vers le lieu de leur choix. Les personnes qui d\u00e9cident de rester ou de fuir doivent \u00eatre prot\u00e9g\u00e9es dans tous les cas.<\/p>\n\n