UN rights chief urges accountability in Syria, sees huge opportunity for just transition

• ‘Accountability’ will be ‘key’ to transition, says UN human rights chief.
• Turk points to “enormous possibilities” for inclusive transition dialogue.
• It urges an end to arms flows to the conflicts in Haiti, Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.

GENEVA: The UN human rights chief on Monday called for accountability for abuses under the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but said there was “tremendous potential” for an inclusive political transition and early signs were many. promises.

Syrians woke up Monday to a hopeful if uncertain future after rebels captured the capital Damascus and Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of brutal rule by the Assad family.

“We will need to ensure that those responsible for these violations, whether they are on the side of the previous government, the president and others, but also all others responsible for violations, are held accountable,” the UN said. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told a news conference in Geneva, calling for meticulous preservation of evidence.

“(Accountability) will be a key part of the transition, because we cannot afford to go back to those periods where impunity really reigns.”

Turk’s office pointed to the disappearance of more than 100,000 people during the war alone and the use of torture and chemical weapons.

Syria is not currently a member of the International Criminal Court, although a new government could join it.

Russia has blocked previous attempts at the UN Security Council to refer Syria to the court.

Turk said there was a “tremendous opportunity” for comprehensive dialogue on Syria’s political transition into a new era.

“I hope that in this current environment […] there will be this comprehensive, very comprehensive dialogue,” he said.

“There is a huge possibility that this will happen. And what we have seen initially is indeed cooperation,” he added, citing coordination between Assad’s prime minister, Mohammed Jalali, and rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

At the same press conference, called to mark the anniversary of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Turk urged states to stop the flow of arms to conflicts such as those in Haiti, Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.

“We have to insist that it’s not OK and it’s not legal to use anti-personnel mines in Ukraine, it’s not OK to provide them for use there,” he said, in an apparent reference to US President Joe Biden’s endorsement. the export of such mines last month.

Turk said at least 184 people were killed in gang violence in the Haitian capital over the weekend, bringing the total death toll this year to a “staggering” 5,000.