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Arab News
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UN commission says Syria must end violence against Alawites and protect places of worship
BEIRUT: The head of a UN investigative commission on Friday called commitments made by the new authorities in Syria to protect the rights of minorities 'encouraging' but said attacks have continued on members of the Alawite sect in the months since a major outbreak of sectarian violence on Syria's coast. Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current Syrian government — led by Islamist former insurgents who ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad — had given his team 'unfettered access' to the coast and to witnesses of the violence and victims' families. 'Disturbingly, reports continue to circulate of ongoing killings and arbitrary arrests of members of the Alawite community, as well as the confiscation of the property of those who fled the March violence,' he said. Pinheiro's commission also 'documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six Alawite women this spring in several Syrian governorates,' two of whom remain missing, and has received 'credible reports of more abductions,' he said. Pinheiro also called on authorities to put in place more protections for places of worship after Sunday's suicide bombing attack on a church outside of Damascus. The attack, which killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens more, was the first of its kind to take place in the Syrian capital in years. The Syrian government has said that the perpetrators belonged to a cell of the Daesh group and that they thwarted a subsequent attempt to target a Shiite shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb in Damascus. 'Attacks on places of worship are outrageous and unacceptable,' Pinheiro said. 'The authorities must ensure the protection of places of worship and threatened communities and ensure that perpetrators and enablers are held accountable.' Assad was deposed in a lightning rebel offensive in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. In March, hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and the new government security forces on the Syrian coast. Pinheiro said his commission had documented scattered 'revenge attacks' that happened before that, including killings in several villages in Hama and Homs provinces in late January in which men who had handed over their weapons under a 'settlement' process set up for former soldiers and members of security forces under Assad, believing that they would be granted an amnesty in exchange for disarmament, were then 'ill-treated and executed.' He praised the interim government's formation of a body tasked with investigating the attacks on the coast and said government officials had told his team that 'dozens of alleged perpetrators' were arrested. Pinheiro said the government needs to carry out a 'reform and vetting program' as it integrates a patchwork of former rebel factions into a new army and security services and enact 'concrete policies to put an end to Syria's entrenched cycles of violence and revenge, in a context where heightened tensions and sectarian divisions have been reignited.'
Associated Press
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
UN commission says Syria must end violence against Alawites and protect places of worship
BEIRUT (AP) — The head of a U.N. investigative commission on Friday called commitments made by the new authorities in Syria to protect the rights of minorities 'encouraging' but said attacks have continued on members of the Alawite sect in the months since a major outbreak of sectarian violence on Syria's coast. Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current Syrian government — led by Islamist former insurgents who ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad — had given his team 'unfettered access' to the coast and to witnesses of the violence and victims' families. 'Disturbingly, reports continue to circulate of ongoing killings and arbitrary arrests of members of the Alawite community, as well as the confiscation of the property of those who fled the March violence,' he said. Pinheiro's commission also 'documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six Alawite women this spring in several Syrian governorates,' two of whom remain missing, and has received 'credible reports of more abductions,' he said. Pinheiro also called on authorities to put in place more protections for places of worship after Sunday's suicide bombing attack on a church outside of Damascus. The attack, which killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens more, was the first of its kind to take place in the Syrian capital in years. The Syrian government has said that the perpetrators belonged to a cell of the Islamic State group and that they thwarted a subsequent attempt to target a Shiite shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb in Damascus. 'Attacks on places of worship are outrageous and unacceptable,' Pinheiro said. 'The authorities must ensure the protection of places of worship and threatened communities and ensure that perpetrators and enablers are held accountable.' Assad was deposed in a lightning rebel offensive in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. In March, hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and the new government security forces on the Syrian coast. Pinheiro said his commission had documented scattered 'revenge attacks' that happened before that, including killings in several villages in Hama and Homs provinces in late January in which men who had handed over their weapons under a 'settlement' process set up for former soldiers and members of security forces under Assad, believing that they would be granted an amnesty in exchange for disarmament, were then 'ill-treated and executed.' He praised the interim government's formation of a body tasked with investigating the attacks on the coast and said government officials had told his team that 'dozens of alleged perpetrators' were arrested. Pinheiro said the government needs to carry out a 'reform and vetting program' as it integrates a patchwork of former rebel factions into a new army and security services and enact 'concrete policies to put an end to Syria's entrenched cycles of violence and revenge, in a context where heightened tensions and sectarian divisions have been reignited.'
Zawya
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
South Sudan's peace deal at risk of collapse without stronger regional action, warns United Nation (UN) Commission
The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has sounded the alarm that the 2018 Revitalized (Peace) Agreement is at serious risk of collapse and called for urgent, coordinated regional intervention to salvage the faltering peace process. The Commission stressed that escalating military offensives, political crackdowns, and foreign military presence are not only accelerating the breakdown of the Agreement but also fueling deep fear, instability and widespread trauma among the people of South Sudan. 'South Sudan's peace agreement is in crisis,' said Yasmin Sooka, Chair of the Commission. 'The renewed violence is pushing the Revitalized Peace Agreement to the brink of irrelevance, threatening a total collapse. Such a breakdown risks fragmenting the country even further.' 'Regional partners - especially the African Union and IGAD - must urgently increase their leverage and pressure on South Sudan's leaders to de-escalate tensions, return to meaningful dialogue, and fully implement the peace agreement,' Sooka said. 'It remains the only credible pathway to stability, peace, and democratic transition.' Earlier this week, the Commission held consultative dialogues with a range of stakeholders, including civil society representatives, to assess the deepening crisis and explore measures to avert a return to civil war. Participants expressed widespread fear and anxiety among communities, who are increasingly traumatized by persistent violence, arbitrary arrests, and the erosion of civic space. Since March 2025, the South Sudan People's Defense Forces (SSPDF) have launched sustained military operations, including airstrikes on civilian-populated areas, causing significant casualties and mass displacement. A state of emergency has been declared in several regions where operations continue. Reports of Ugandan forces supporting the SSPDF, alongside the government's move to recruit thousands of additional soldiers – seemingly outside the security sector reform commitments in the Revitalized Agreement and pointing towards protracted conflict - have further heightened public fear and concern over looming widespread violations. 'South Sudanese are living with extreme trauma. They are enduring targeted military attacks that have upended lives and instilled widespread fear. The ongoing recruitment drive by the SSPDF directly contradicts the Revitalized Agreement, which calls for the training and deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces. The country's leaders - signatories of the Agreement - must abandon partisan agendas and act in the interest of the people,' said Commissioner Carlos Castresana Fernández. 'The world cannot remain as bystander while civilians are bombed, and opposition voices are silenced. The time for passive diplomacy is over - these senseless attacks must stop.' Political tensions in South Sudan have sharply escalated with the arbitrary detention of key opposition figures, including the First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, alongside expanded military operations by the SSPDF, including in populated civilian areas, and against armed opposition forces and groups. Escalating armed violence has deepened South Sudan's humanitarian and human rights crises. Civilians in Upper Nile State have been particularly affected, as the region – already grappling with emergency-level food insecurity – has become a key transit corridor for refugees fleeing the conflict in Sudan. Fears are growing that if this conflict trajectory is not averted, South Sudan's conflict will entwine with the crisis of Sudan, with even more dire consequences. 'Salvaging South Sudan's peace agreement should be of utmost priority in an already turbulent region, as the agreement enables political adversaries to partner towards a transformative transition in this country,' said Commissioner Barney Afako. 'Torpedoing the transition is an act of profound folly and recklessness, that is already reigniting violence, deepening insecurity, and imposing further grave violations on long suffering citizens, and undermining regional peace architectures.' 'Regional partners and peace guarantors must not indulge these damaging machinations; rather, they should resolve to urgently restore a credible transition that will deliver citizens' aspirations for durable peace and justice,' Afako said. The Commission reiterated its call for regional and international actors to intensify diplomatic pressure on South Sudan's leaders to ensure immediate de-escalation and full implementation of the Revitalized Agreement. Commissioner Yasmin Sooka also noted that 'any unilateral attempts to derail the transition and undermine regional peace architectures have grave implications for peace and security in the Horn of Africa, and that failure to act could plunge the country into another devastating cycle of conflict.' The Commission continues to monitor developments closely and is documenting human rights violations and abuses committed by all parties to the conflict, including those potentially amounting to war crimes. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations: Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Al Jazeera
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel guilty of ‘extermination' in attacks on schools, mosques: UN
Israel has committed the crime against humanity of 'extermination' by attacking Palestinian civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites in Gaza, an independent United Nations commission report says. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, made the accusation in a report released on Tuesday. The report also said Israeli forces have committed war crimes, 'including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing, in their attacks on educational facilities that caused civilian casualties'. 'We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza,' commission chair Navi Pillay, a former UN high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement. The report said Israel has damaged or destroyed more than 90 percent of the school and university buildings in Gaza and destroyed more than half of all religious and cultural sites in the territory. 'While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, was not in itself a genocidal act, evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group,' the report said. 'Israel's targeting of the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination,' Pillay continued. While the report focused on the impact on Gaza, the commission also reported significant consequences for the Palestinian education system in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem as a result of ramped-up Israeli military activity, harassment of students and settler attacks. 'Children in Gaza have lost their childhood. With no education available, they are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation and subhuman living conditions,' said Pillay. 'What is particularly disturbing is the widespread nature of the targeting of educational facilities, which has extended well beyond Gaza, impacting all Palestinian children.' The report will be formally presented to the UN Human Rights Council on June 17. Israel withdrew from the council in February after accusing it of bias. The commission's previous report on Gaza, published in March, accused Israel of committing 'genocidal acts' by destroying reproductive healthcare facilities. That prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accuse the council of being 'an anti-Semitic, corrupt, terror-supporting, and irrelevant body'.
Al Arabiya
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
UN experts accuse Israel of ‘extermination' in attacks on Gaza schools, religious sites
An independent United Nations commission said Tuesday that Israeli attacks on schools, religious sites, and cultural institutions in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians. 'Israel has obliterated Gaza's education system and destroyed over half of all religious and cultural sites in the Gaza Strip,' the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in a report. It accused Israeli forces of committing 'war crimes, including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing,' in attacks on educational facilities that caused civilian casualties. 'In killing civilians sheltering in schools and religious sites, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination,' the report said. While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, was not in itself a genocidal act, the report added, 'evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group.' Commission chair Navi Pillay said in a statement: 'We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza.' 'Children in Gaza have lost their childhood,' she said. 'They are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation, and subhuman living conditions.' The three-member commission said Israeli attacks 'targeted religious sites that served as places of refuge, killing hundreds of people, including women and children.' The commission was set up by the UN to investigate violations of humanitarian and human rights law in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. In May, UN humanitarian relief chief Tom Fletcher urged UN Security Council members to take action 'to prevent genocide' in Gaza. Israel has denied committing genocide. Fletcher also demanded that Israel lift its aid blockade on Gaza, where the UN says the entire population of more than two million people is at risk of famine. 'For those killed and those whose voices are silenced: what more evidence do you need now?' Fletcher said on May 14. 'Will you act — decisively — to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law?' The UN commission's report focused primarily on Gaza but also addressed Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territories more broadly, including East Jerusalem and inside Israel. It said Israel had 'done little' to prevent or prosecute Jewish settlers in the West Bank who 'intentionally targeted educational facilities and students to terrorise communities and force them to leave their homes.' The report also said Israeli authorities had intimidated and, in some cases, detained Israeli and Palestinian teachers and students who expressed concern or solidarity with Gaza's civilian population. The commission urged Israel to stop attacking cultural, religious, and educational institutions, 'immediately end its unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory,' and cease all settlement activity. It also said the Israeli government should comply fully with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice, which require Israel 'to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide against people in Gaza' and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid. The panel also called on Hamas to 'cease using civilian objects for military purposes.' Hamas fighters launched an attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,218 people — mostly civilians — according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's subsequent offensive has killed at least 54,880 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Gaza. The UN considers those figures reliable.
