The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued its first decisions regarding the torture and killing operations committed by the Syrian regime against detainees in its prisons. The decision stipulated that the Syrian regime must “take all measures within its jurisdiction to prevent torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, and other cruel acts or punishments.” Last month, Canada and the Netherlands filed accusations against the Syrian regime before the International Court of Justice, accompanied by evidence that it had violated its obligations under the 1984 United Nations Convention against Torture. The Syrian regime did not attend the hearing or the sentencing.
International Court of Justice in The Hague
The statement issued by the International Court of Justice said: “The Syrian regime will take all measures within its authority to prevent torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and other cruel acts or punishment. It will ensure that its responsibilities, as well as the responsibility of organizations or individuals under its control, direction or influence, do not share In these acts of torture
The Syrian regime was also requested to take “effective measures to prevent the destruction of evidence relating to alleged violations of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention of Torture, Inhuman Treatment, Indignity or Other Punishment, and to ensure the full protection of that evidence.”
The head of the United Nations Special Committee on Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, stated that this decision is “a turning point of a historic nature presented by the highest court in the world to stop torture, enforced disappearance and killing in Syria,” noting that these violations have been a feature of the Syrian conflict for 12 years and are considered one of its main causes. “.
It is worth noting that judges in the Court of Justice heard painful testimonies from survivors of detention in October. Lefebvre spoke of shocking testimonies from detainees, in which they described the types of torture they were subjected to, including mass rapes, especially of children and women, mutilation, cutting off heads and organs, continuous torture, the “unified” method of punishment, putting people in the tire of a car and then beating them severely and using chemical weapons.
The ruling comes a day after France issued an international arrest warrant against regime President Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher al-Assad, who are accused of complicity in committing crimes against humanity and the chemical attacks that targeted Eastern Ghouta in Damascus in 2013.
Some countries have prosecuted individuals on their territories for committing war crimes, and Western countries are looking to find a broader plan to bring this case before international justice.
It is worth noting that the International Court of Justice, which is based in The Hague, was unable to deal with Syria effectively because the latter did not ratify the Rome Statute, i.e. the founding treaty of the court.
Russia and China used their veto power in 2014 to prevent the UN Security Council from taking a decision to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court.
