UN to set up war crimes panel for Syria investigations

The UN has approved
a resolution to set up
a panel to gather
evidence of possible
war crimes in Syria.


Syria's UN
Ambassador Bashar
Ja'afari said the
resolution was illegal
and a threat to a
solution to the
conflict.
The 193-member body
adopted a resolution
Wednesday by a vote of 105
to 15 with 52
abstentions.  Iran, China
and Russia - Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's
main ally - were among the
countries which voted
against.
"The General Assembly
today demonstrated that it
can take the reins on
questions of justice in the
face of a Security Council
deadlock," said Balkees
Jarah of Human Rights
Watch. "The countries that
voted for this
unprecedented Syria
resolution took a critically
important stand for victims
of grave crimes."
The resolution stresses the
need for the new body "to
closely coordinate" with an
independent commission
appointed by the UN Human
Rights Council which has
said war crimes are
"rampant" in Syria.
Syria and her ally
Russia accused the assembly
of interfering in the work of
the Security Council.  Syria's
Ambassador Bashar Jafaari
slammed the measure,
saying it was contrary to
the UN charter and a
"flagrant interference in the
internal affairs of a UN
member-state."
The resolution tasks the UN
secretary-general to report
within 20 days on the
establishment of the new
panel, which will be funded
by the United Nations.  It
will set up an
"international, impartial
and independent
mechanism to assist in the
investigation and
prosecution of those
responsible for the most
serious crimes" in Syria
since March 2011, when the
conflict began.
The panel will "collect,
consolidate, preserve and
analyze evidence of
violations of international
humanitarian law and
human rights violations and
abuses and prepare files in
order to facilitate and
expedite fair and
independent criminal
proceedings," according to
the draft text.
Aleppo aid convoy
attacked from the air
Meanwhile, a UN inquiry
has concluded that a UN aid
convoy that was bombed
while en route to the
besieged city of Aleppo in
September had come under
air attack, but was unable
to identify the perpetrators.
In a summary of the
findings released on
Wednesday, the UN said the
convoy had been "subject to
an attack from the air, using
multiple types of munitions
deployed from more than
one aircraft and aircraft
type."
At least 10 people were
killed and 22 injured in the
September 19 attack at
Urem al-Kubra, near
Aleppo, as a fragile
ceasefire agreed to by the
US and Russia collapsed.
The inquiry panel said it
had received reports that
three Syria helicopters and
three aircraft were "highly
likely" to have perpetrated
the attack and that a
Russian plane was also
suspected of being involved.
"However, the board did not
have access to raw data to
support these assertions
and, in their absence, it was
unable to draw a definitive
conclusion," the inquiry
reported.
Russia and Syria have
denied involvement in the
bombing.
The board of inquiry, led by
retired Indian general
Abhijit Guha, was not
allowed to visit the scene of
the attack in Urem al-Kubra,
but it did travel to Syria in
early December.