No place to hide for war criminals

Realpolitik solutions in Syria cannot ignore the perpetrators of war crimes in the conflict

Syrian president Bashar Al Assad is being identified as part of the possible solution in Syria, but war crimes charges may follow. Photo: Reuters

With the Syrian civil war grinding towards the end of its fourth year and the rise of ISIL making peace seem more distant than ever, some analysts have begun to openly discuss what was previously unthinkable – including president Bashar Al Assad in the solution.

This makes all the more pertinent the announcement by United Nations war crimes investigators that they intend to name some or all of the hundreds of people who are accused of committing serious offences in Syria. As The National reported yesterday, the list of names includes military and security commanders, the heads of detention facilities, commanders of non-regime militias and the heads of extremist groups involved in the conflict.

Regardless of who is eventually named at the UN Human Rights Council meeting on March 17, the investigators’ announcement was intended to ensure nobody feels a sense of impunity for their actions in the conflict that has cost more than 210,000 lives – more than half of whom are non-combatants.

As the UN war crimes investigators noted, their mandate is not just to collect evidence of such crimes but also to destroy any perceived impunity felt by the perpetrators.

This is as it should be. The Assad regime is already strongly suspected of being responsible for the chemical weapons used against civilians on five occasions in 2013. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon this week specifically highlighted the regime’s continuing policy of indiscriminately dropping barrel bombs on urban areas and using the denial of basic services to hundreds of thousands of non-combatants as a weapon of war.

For all the advocates of realpolitik who now talk about Mr Al Assad as part of the solution, there must still be accountability for those who commit gross violations of human rights that have characterised much of the Syrian conflict. When the world talks about the Assad regime’s future, it has to take note of the likelihood of the leaders who will face war crimes charges.