UN Authority Figures

UN Special Committee on Decolonization Executive Board, Special Rapporteur: Syria

In the month of January 2016, 488 civilians including 127 children and 80 women were killed by aerial bombardment by Russian and Syrian warplanes, 2 civilians were tortured to death in regime prisons, 23 civilians including 15 children and 4 women died due to poor life conditions.
Source: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, March 1, 2016

Mission of the UN Special Committee on Decolonization: "The Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence of Colonial Countries and Peoples (also known as the Special Committee on decolonization or C-24), the United Nations entity exclusively devoted to the issue of decolonization, was established in 1961 by the General Assembly with the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the Declaration (General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960) [which declares the 'subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations...']" (The United Nations and Decolonization website , "Committee of 24 (Special Committee on Decolonization)"

Term of office: 2017-2019

Syria's Record on "subjugation, domination and exploitation":
"The government routinely violated the human rights of its citizens as the country witnessed major conflict... The Asad government...continued to use indiscriminate and deadly force against civilians, conducting air and ground-based military assaults on cities, residential areas, and civilian infrastructure. Attacks reported against schools, hospitals, mosques, churches, synagogues, and houses were common throughout the country. The United Nations estimated the fighting had resulted in the deaths of more than 250,000 persons since 2011. The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) reported the government killed 15,748 persons during the year, and Da'esh was responsible for 2,098 deaths. The humanitarian situation reached severe levels. As of December there were more than 4.3 million Syrian refugees registered with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in neighboring countries with more than 6.5 million persons displaced internally. The government frequently blocked access for humanitarian assistance to civilian areas, particularly areas held by opposition groups.The most egregious human rights problems stemmed from the state's widespread disregard for the well-being of a majority of its citizens. This manifested itself in a complete denial of citizens' ability to change their government, a breakdown in law enforcement's ability to protect the majority of citizens from state and nonstate violence, and the reported indiscriminate use of violence against civilians and civilian institutions. The government arbitrarily and unlawfully killed, tortured, and detained persons on a wide scale. Government forces reportedly conducted attacks on civilians in hospitals, residential areas, schools, and camps holding internally displaced persons (IDPs); these attacks included bombardment with improvised explosive devices, commonly referred to as "barrel bombs" (containing a combination of jet fuel and TNT, usually dropped by a helicopter). The government reportedly continued the use of torture and rape, including of children. It reportedly used the massacre of civilians, as well as their forced displacement, rape, and starvation, as military tactics... Other continuing human rights problems included:... rampant governmental corruption; violence and societal discrimination against women and minorities;... According to credible reports, government-linked paramilitary groups engaged in frequent violations and abuses, including massacres, indiscriminate killings, kidnapping of civilians, arbitrary detentions, and rape as a war tactic. Government-affiliated militias, including the terrorist organization Lebanese Hizballah, supported by Iran, repeatedly targeted civilians."
(U.S. State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2015, Syria)

Archive