NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 29 – At a UN Security Council Arria-formula meeting on accountability in Syria, Italy today recalled the exceptional humanitarian toll of that crisis in terms of loss of lives and violations of human rights. “We have the responsibility to do our utmost to support the Syrian people,” the Italian Permanent Representative Maurizio Massari said in his address to the Council.
Italy reaffirmed its support for “a credible, inclusive, viable and political solution, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254,” and for the relaunching of the Constitutional Committee as a Syrian-led platform for dialogue.
Estonian Ambassador to the United Nations, Sven Jurgenson, who holds the rotating presidency of the Council, chaired a meeting convened to highlight the continuing impunity in Syria for violent crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. Spokespeople for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told that the session will also provide an opportunity to “revitalize the Council’s discussions on this issue and to highlight the Council’s commitment to take steps to ensure international peace and security.”
Speakers at the Arria-formula meeting included Catherine Marchi-Uhel, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011.
Additionally, Claus Kress, professor of criminal and international law at the University of Cologn, Waad Al-Kateab, a Syrian journalist and film director and Omar Alshogre, war refugee and representative of the Syrian civil society attended, demanding that the international community step up its efforts to hold the perpetrators of war crimes in Syria accountable. (@OnuItalia)
