UN to publish lists of war criminals in Syrian war

The Independent Commission of Inquiry, which is led by the Brazilian investigator Paulo Pinheiro, is to publish some or all of hundreds of names on secret lists of suspects at the UN Human Rights Council on March 17, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

"We are trying to convince, to mobilize the international community to consider all options on the table for accountability and not to ignore the horrific, the abominable situation of the victims of this war," Paolo Pinheiro told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

To stem 'impunity'

The commission has drawn up four lists of individuals and groups it believes are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The report warned that despite the commission's "long-standing position" not to name suspects, maintaining that policy would "reinforce the impunity" of alleged war criminals.

Without naming Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's allies such as Russia and Iran, nor countries backing rebel armed groups such as the US , Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the investigators made clear that they blamed such countries for the continuing bloodshed.

Up to 40 names

They revealed that four of the lists of names of alleged war criminals had been passed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a fifth would be handed over in March. The five lists, compiled since the Commission began investigating in 2011, are understood to contain approximately 30 to 40 names each.

Syria has refused to cooperate with the investigators and its UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari called their inquiry biased.

More than 210,000 people have been killed in Syria and half of the population (about 10 million) has been forced to flee their homes since the conflict erupted in March 2011.

ra/rc (Reuters, AFP)