50 rights groups urge UN’s Syria meeting to mandate victim hearings, special investigator

GENEVA – An international coalition of 50 human rights and church relief organizations are calling for Monday’s UN Human Rights Council session on Syria to mandate a permanent special investigator into violations by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the holding of televised hearings in Geneva for Syrian victims to testify.

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Led by UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights advocacy group, the appeal was submitted in a letter today to the ambassadors of all 47 council member states. The open letter is signed by Franciscans International, Initiatives for China headed by eminent dissident Yang Jianli, and 48 other non-governmental, humanitarian and church groups from Australia, Belgium, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, France, Germany, India, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria Nepal, Switzerland, the UK, Uganda, the US and Vietnam.

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“It’s vital for the UN meeting to produce a meangingful outcome that will pressure the Syrian regime and help protect victims on the ground,” said UN Watch director Hillel Neuer. “Public hearings with victim testimony, coupled with the creation of a permanent investigator on Syria, would do that.” The NGOs criticized the council for holding only one meeting on Syria more than three months ago, saying the UN body had “failed to take prompt or effective action to protect the victims of Syrian mass killings.” The NGO appeal also called on the council to hold the Syrian military and political leadership personally accountable for alleged “crimes against humanity.”

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