Syria: War Crimes

(asked on 21st April 2022) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recent discovery of mass graves in Syria; and what assessment she has made of whether those graves amount to further evidence of war crimes committed by President Bashar al-Assad's regime during the civil war in that country.


Answered by
Amanda Milling Portrait
Amanda Milling
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This question was answered on 26th April 2022

Reports of mass graves in Syria are concerning and in line with what we know about Asad's repressive regime. Since 2011, Asad's regime, with backing from its allies, has deliberately undermined the pursuit of peace, committed war crimes and caused untold suffering for Syrians. That is why the Government supports efforts to pursue accountability for the most serious crimes committed in Syria, including through the UN Commission of Inquiry and the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism with which we signed an MoU in March this year. These bodies were established with the express purpose of inquiring into and investigating potential war crimes. We praise those in Syria who bring the crimes of the Asad regime to light.

Through the Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programming, the UK provides funding to the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) to train first responders in Syria to safeguard forensic evidence at mass graves. We also use our position in the UNSC and leadership of Syria resolutions at the UNHRC to draw international attention to the human rights violations and abuses in Syria; we will continue to call for those violating international humanitarian law to be held accountable for their crimes.

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