聯合國人權官員敦促對敘利亞戰爭罪行問責

The U.N. Human Rights Chief chastised the Syrian government Monday for its role in starting the conflict in its country and criticized the Security Council for not being more decisive in ending the suffering.

“It all began seven years ago almost to the day with the torture of children, and the impunity given by the Syrian state to those torturers,” High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said. He was referring to a group of school boys from Daraa who in 2011 painted anti-government graffiti that led to arrests, a crackdown on peaceful protests, and eventually full-fledged conflict.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad has said it is only conducting counter-terrorism operations, not attacking its own civilians.

The high commissioner noted that unlawful methods of warfare have been used by all parties to this conflict, not just the government.

He scolded the U.N. Security Council for not taking “decisive action” to defend human rights and prevent further loss of life, including using and threatening the use of the veto to protect parties to the conflict.

He again called for atrocities committed in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague. An unlikely action, as it would require a Security Council referral and Russia has used its veto 11 times since the start of the conflict to spare the Assad government from sanctions or other measures.聯合國負責人權事務的官員星期一批評敘利亞政府參與了觸發內戰，同時批評安理會沒有爲制止民衆的苦難採取更堅決的行動。

聯合國難民事務高級專員伊德·拉阿德·侯賽因（Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein）說，7年前，兒童受到折磨，然而敘利亞政府讓肇事者逍遙法外。2011年，一些學生用油漆噴寫反政府標語後被逮捕，隨後發生的抗議學生被捕的示威受到政府鎮壓，最後引發敘利亞全面內戰。

阿薩德政府說，軍隊只是在進行反恐行動，不攻擊本國民衆。聯合國難民事務高級專員侯賽因說，在敘利亞內戰中，不僅是敘利亞政府，交戰各方都使用了非法手段。

侯賽因批評聯合國安理會沒有爲捍衛人權和阻止更多人喪生而採取果斷行動，還批評有人爲袒護衝突中的某交戰方使用或威脅使用否決權。

他再次呼籲把在敘利亞發生的殺戮交給海牙的國際刑事法庭調查。不過這幾乎不可能實現，因爲這需要安理會先同意，而俄羅斯自從敘利亞內戰開始以來已經爲了不讓阿薩德政府受到制裁或其它處罰動用了11次否決權。