USA/FILE: Reacting to a U.N. official's "civil war" comment, Human Rights Watch says Syria violence amounts to "armed conflict"

Record ID: 280978

  • Title: USA/FILE: Reacting to a U.N. official's "civil war" comment, Human Rights Watch says Syria violence amounts to "armed conflict"
  • Date: 14th June 2012
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 13, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) PHILIPPE BOLOPION, UNITED NATIONS DIRECTOR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, SAYING: "Well, unfortunately our research confirm a lot of the tragic abuses committed against children. We have talked to witnesses and victims, describing how sometimes even 13-year-old children have been thrown in jail,
  • Embargoed: 29th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic, Usa
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAXSGLAO1SGILSTG7AGC7QDRKN
  • Story Text: New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Wednesday (June 13) that a "war on words" should not be the focus of parties who are debating how to end the ongoing violence in Syria.
    The comment comes a day after U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous became the first senior U.N. official to say Syria was now in a "civil war" -- a declaration which could have legal implications for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and rebel fighters in terms of war crimes and compliance with the Geneva Conventions.
    Ladsous' comments were dismissed by Syrian officials.
    "Talk of civil war in Syria is not consistent with reality ... What is happening in Syria is a war against armed groups that choose terrorism," the state news agency SANA quoted a Foreign Ministry statement as saying.
    Human Rights Watch's Philippe Bolopion said that legally, the term "civil war" did not mean much.
    "Usually people use this as a shortcut to say when the situation amounts to an armed conflict and whether the laws of war apply. And frankly, often this is a question better left to lawyers. The authority on this is the ICRC and our lawyers agree with them and they tend to think that in some parts of Syria, at some times, the situation amounts to an armed conflict. But it's a tricky question and I think what's beyond dispute is the fact that the levels of violence and cruelty have escalated and I believe that that's what the U.N. official (Ladsous) was trying to convey mainly," Bolopion explained.
    "We are not really so interested in the war of words, we are more interested in the tragic situation on the ground and what's beyond question is that the violence has reached new levels," he added.
    French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday that France will propose giving the United Nations the power to enforce Kofi Annan's Syrian peace plan, adding that a no-fly zone was an option under consideration to stem what was now a "civil war".
    His comments were the toughest yet from a major power in response to the relentless violence in Syria, where many hundreds of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed since an attempted April 12 ceasefire which was supposed to open up a chance for political talks to resolve the crisis.
    Fabius said he hoped Russia, which has shielded Assad from international action over his bloody crackdown on a 15-month-old uprising, would agree to the United Nations invoking 'Chapter 7', which can authorize use of force and propose toughening sanctions on Syria.
    France's proposal appears certain to be opposed by Russia, which says Western and Arab powers misused a U.N. Security Council resolution last year to justify armed intervention in Libya.
    Human Rights Watch has expressed similar frustration over the U.N. Security Council's divided views.
    "While people are still being killed daily, including many children and women, Russia is still supporting Syria in the U.N. Security Council, still arming Syria and even allegedly printing money now for them," Bolopion told Reuters.
    Washington says it is also concerned that Russia may be supplying Syria with attack helicopters -- something that U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said would "escalate the conflict quite dramatically".
    Bolopion says, "What we do know is that many things have not been tried yet and you know, I'm thinking about a referral to the International Criminal Court by the Security Council, an arms embargo, individual sanctions against officials involved in the violence. And the reason why these have not been tried yet is simply because Russia and China are blocking them in the Security Council ."
    The plan brokered by Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general, has so far failed to halt the bloodshed in Syria, where more than 10,000 people have been killed since early 2011.
    U.N. observers who arrived in Lattakia on Tuesday (June 12) said they had been turned back after their vehicles were fired on and they were threatened by crowds throwing stones and metal rods.
    They got back to Damascus where video footage showed damage to their vehicles.
    Meanwhile, heavy shelling was reported by residents in the central city of Homs. They said locals had fled 10 districts of the city after Assad's troops swept through the area.
    Many children are among the scores who have been killed and injured in the conflict and on Tuesday the United Nations said there have been reports of children being used as human shields.
    Human Rights Watch confirms several of the reports of children being tortured and killed.
    "Unfortunately our research confirm a lot of the tragic abuses committed against children," Bolopion told Reuters.
    "We have talked to witnesses and victims, describing how sometimes even 13-year-old children have been thrown in jail, have been beaten, have been tortured, burnt with cigarettes, received electric shocks, have been left to dangle from handcuffs on the ceilings for hours at a time. Many of the victims of the conflict are children. In the Houla massacre, almost half of the victims were kids and it goes to show the tragic levels of violence in this conflict," he added.
    The United Nations says Assad's forces have killed more than 10,000 people since the start of the uprising. Syria says Islamist militants have killed 2,600 soldiers and police.
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