Assad in The Hague? UN launches Syria war-crime panel

Assad in The Hague? UN launches Syria war-crime panel
A new UN body tasked with identifying individuals guilty of atrocities in Syria should start work shortly, a key step towards holding war crimes suspects to account.

2 min read
The new panel will work with evidence already compiled by a UN-backed Commission [Getty]

A new UN body tasked with identifying individuals guilty of atrocities in Syria should start work shortly, a key step towards holding war crimes suspects to account, the UN rights chief said on Monday.

A prominent judge or international lawyer to head the panel will be named "soon", after funding for the post and a deputy was secured, Zeid Raad al-Hussein told reporters in Geneva.

An initial budget of $13 million has been nearly half funded but there is optimism about achieving the full amount after "quite a lot of countries" began contributing, Hussein added.

The panel approved by the UN General Assembly in December has been denounced by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government as unacceptable interference in the country's affairs.

But proponents said it became necessary after veto-wielding UN Security Council powers China and main Assad ally Russia blocked repeated attempts to refer the Syrian conflict to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The new panel, based in Geneva, will work with evidence already compiled by a UN-backed Commission of Inquiry for Syria as well as testimony and documents compiled by civil society groups.

It will aim to go further than merely condemn the war crimes committed in Syria – something UN officials have done repeatedly through the conflict.

It will instead strive to name specific individuals responsible for those crimes and, ideally, assign their cases to courts that may have standing to prosecute.

Western leaders have accused Assad's regime of carrying out an April 4 sarin gas attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun that killed at least 88 people, including 31 children.