7th Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic

Summary

In the present report, the commission of inquiry covers the investigations conducted from 15 July 2013 to 20 January 2014. Its findings are based on 563 interviews and other collected evidence.
More than 250,000 people are besieged in the Syrian Arab Republic and subjected to relentless shelling and bombardment. They are denied humanitarian aid, food and such basic necessities as medical care, and must choose between surrender and starvation. Siege warfare is employed in a context of egregious human rights and international humanitarian law violations. The warring parties do not fear being held accountable for their acts.
The scale and geographic distribution of violations perpetrated by government forces and pro-government militia, and non-State armed groups, differ among violations.
Government forces and pro-government militia continue to conduct widespread attacks on civilians, systematically committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity. Government forces have committed gross violations of human rights and the war crimes of murder, hostage-taking, torture, rape and sexual violence, recruiting and using children in hostilities and targeting civilians in sniper attacks. Government forces disregarded the special protection accorded to hospitals, medical and humanitarian personnel and cultural property. Aleppo was subjected to a campaign of barrel bombing that targeted entire areas and spread terror among civilians. Government forces used incendiary weapons, causing superfluous injury and unnecessary suffering, in violation of international humanitarian law. Indiscriminate and disproportionate aerial bombardment and shelling caused large-scale arbitrary displacement. Government forces and pro-government militia perpetrated massacres.
Non-State armed groups, named in the report, committed war crimes, including murder, execution without due process, torture, hostage-taking, violations of international humanitarian law tantamount to enforced disappearance, rape and sexual violence, recruiting and using children in hostilities, attacking protected objects and forcibly displacing civilians. Medical and religious personnel and journalists were targeted. Armed groups besieged and indiscriminately shelled civilian neighbourhoods, in some instances spreading terror among civilians through the use of car bombings in civilian areas. In Al-Raqqah, the widespread detention of civilians and their systematic torture by identified armed groups amounted to a crime against humanity. Non-State armed groups perpetrated massacres.
Chemical weapons, specifically sarin, were found to have been used in multiple incidents during the conflict. In no incident was the commission’s evidentiary threshold met with respect to the perpetrator.
States that exert influence on the parties in the Syrian Arab Republic must act to ensure that these parties comply with the rules of international humanitarian law. The Security Council bears responsibility for allowing the warring parties to violate these rules with impunity.