(New York) – Over one hundred civil society groups from around the world issued the following statement today to urge the United Nations Security Council to approve a resolution to refer the situation in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court:
We, the undersigned civil society groups, urge United Nations Security Council members to approve a draft resolution supported by a broad coalition of countries that would refer the situation in Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
More than three years into a conflict that has claimed well over 100,000 lives, according to the United Nations, atrocity crimes are being committed with complete impunity by all sides in the conflict, with no end in sight.
Neither Syrian authorities nor the leaders of non-state armed groups have taken any meaningful steps to ensure accountability for past and ongoing grave human rights crimes. The failure to hold those responsible for these violations to account has only fueled further atrocities by all sides. Against this background, we believe the ICC is the forum most capable of effectively investigating and prosecuting the people who bear the greatest responsibility for serious crimes and of offering a measure of justice for victims in Syria.
The latest report from the UN’s Syria Commission of Inquiry, published on March 5, 2014, also found that all sides to the Syria conflict continued to commit serious crimes under international law and held that the Security Council was failing to take action to end the state of impunity. The commission, which has published seven in-depth reports since its establishment in August 2011, recommended that the Security Council give the ICC a mandate to investigate abuses in Syria
The need for accountability in Syria through the ICC has likewise been supported by more than 60 UN member countries, representing all regions of world, including 10 of the current members of the Security Council. We urge all Security Council members to heed this call for justice. Other countries should publicly support the draft resolution and warn Russia and China against using their veto power to obstruct accountability for violations by all sides.
As a permanent international court with a mandate to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity when national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so, the ICC was created to address exactly the type of situation that exists in Syria today. Though the court's work can be only one piece of the larger accountability effort needed in Syria, it is a crucial first step.
We therefore strongly urge Security Council members to urgently act to fill the accountability gap in Syria. The people of Syria cannot afford further disappointment or delay.
Co-signing organizations in alphabetical order
- Action des Chrétiens pour l'Abolition de la Torture, France
- Advocates for Public International Law, Uganda
- Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Egypt
- Asia Pacific Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Australia
- Act for Peace, Australia
- Arab Coalition for Sudan, Sudan
- Arab Program for Human Rights Activists,Egypt
- Arab-European Center Of Human Rights And International Law, Norway
- Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship, United Kingdom
- Andalus Institute for Tolerance and anti-Violence Studies, Egypt
- Benin Coalition for the International Criminal Court, Benin
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Egypt
- Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas, Colombia
- Center for Media Studies and Peacebuilding, Liberia
- CEDAC,Burundi
- Child Soldiers International, United Kingdom
- Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Belgium
- Club des Amis du Droit du Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo
- Coalition Ivoirienne pour la Cour Penale Internationale, Cote d'Ivoire
- Colombian Commission of Jurists, Colombia
- Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, South Sudan
- Conflict Monitoring Center, Pakistan
- Congress of National Minorities of Ukraine, Ukraine
- Comité Catholique Contre la Faim et Pour le Développement - Terre Solidaire, France
- Comision Mexicana de Defensa y Promocion de los Derechos Humanos, Mexico
- Comision de Derechos Humanos, Peru
- CSO Network, Western Kenya
- Dawlaty Foundation, Lebanon
- Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies, Syria
- Darfur Center for Transitional Justice & Peace Studies, Sudan
- Democracia Global, Argentina
- East Africa Law Society, Tanzania
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt
- Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, Somalia
- Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
- FN-forbundet / Danish United Nations Association, Denmark
- Franciscans International
- Fundación de Antropología Forense, Guatemala
- Friends For a NonViolent World, United States
- Friends Committee on National Legislation, United States
- Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Georgia
- Genocide Alert, Germany
- GlobalSolutions.org, United States
- Global Justice Center, United States
- Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, United States
- Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Lebanon
- Horiyat for Development and Human Rights, Libya
- Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation, The Netherlands
- Humanitarian Law Center Kosovo, Kosovo
- Human Rights First, United States
- Human Rights Watch
- Human Rights Institute of South Africa, South Africa
- International Justice Project, United States
- International Commission of Jurists, Kenya
- International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law, Nigeria
- International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, United States
- International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, France
- International Center for Policy and Conflict, Kenya
- International Crime in Africa Programme, Institute for Security Studies, South Africa
- Interreligious Council for Peace Tanzania, (IRCPT), Tanzania
- Insan, Lebanon
- Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, United States
- Justice Without Frontiers, Lebanon
- Kenya Human Rights Commission, Kenya
- La Coalition Burundaise pour la Cour Penale Internationale, Burundi
- Lira NGO Forum, Uganda
- Ligue pour la Paix, les Droits de l'Homme et la Justice, Democratic Republic of Congo
- Media Foundation for West Africa, Ghana
- Minority Rights Group International, United Kingdom
- National Youth Action, Inc., Liberia
- No Peace Without Justice, Italy
- Norwegian People's Aid, Norway
- Optimum Travail du Burkina, Burkina Faso
- Open Society Justice Initiative
- One Earth Future Foundation, United States
- Pakistan Body Count, Pakistan
- PAX, The Netherlands
- Pax Christi International
- Parliamentarians for Global Action
- El Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense, Peru
- Physicians for Human Rights, United States
- Pak Institute for Peace Studies, Pakistan
- REDRESS, United Kingdom
- Reporters without Borders, France
- Rencontre africaine pour la défense des droits de l’homme (Raddho-Guinée), Guinea
- Reseau Equitas, Cote D’Ivoire
- Samir Kassir Foundation, Lebanon
- Southern Africa Litigation Centre, South Africa
- South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law, South Africa
- Syrian Network for Human Rights, United Kingdom
- Syria Justice & Accountability Center, The Netherlands
- Syrian American Council, United States
- Syrian Nonviolence Movement, France
- Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, United Kingdom
- Synergie des ONGs Congolaises pour la lutte contre les Violences Sexuelles, Democratic Republic of Congo
- Synergie des ONGs Congolaises pour les Victimes, Democratic Republic of Congo
- TRIAL, Track Impunity Always, Switzerland
- The International Federation for Human Rights, France
- The Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law, Sierra Leone
- The Association of Political Scientists, Greece
- The Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention, Canada
- The Igarape Institute, Brazil
- The Arab World Center for Democratic Development, Jordan
- The United Nations Association of Sweden, Sweden
- The Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Canada
- United to End Genocide, United States
- Vision GRAM-International, Canada
- Violations Documentation Center, Syria
- Wake Up Genève for Syria, Switzerland
- West Africa Civil Society Institute, Ghana
- West African Bar Association, Nigeria
- World Federalist Movement, Canada
- World Federation of United Nations Associations
- Womens's International League for Peace and Freedom, Switzerland
- World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy (WFM-IGP), United States
- Youth Action for Development (YAD), Republic of Burundi
- Zarga Organization for Rural Development, Sudan
