UN orders probe into Ghouta’s blockade
geneva — The UN Human Rights Council on Monday ordered an immediate probe into the situation in Syria’s besieged rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta, as aid arrived there for the first time in weeks.
The council approved a resolution calling on war crimes investigators to “urgently conduct a comprehensive and independent inquiry into recent events in Eastern Ghouta.”
With 29 votes in favour, 14 abstentions and four opposed, the UN’s top rights body instructed the UN-backed Commission of Inquiry for Syria to probe alleged atrocities in the area, battered by a Russiabacked regime assault that began on February 18.
The resolution, tabled by Britain, specifically condemned “the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and aerial bombardments against civilians, and the alleged use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta”.
But the commission of inquiry, set up in 2011 shortly after the Syrian conflict began, must first survive a vote later this month on extending its mandate.
If the probe goes ahead, the commission was asked to report back on its findings during the next council session in June.
The resolution, first tabled by Britain during an emergency council session last Friday, initially met with so much opposition that the final vote needed to be postponed until Monday.
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein had warned of “likely war crimes, and potentially crimes against humanity” in the enclave, and insisted that the perpetrators would not “get away with this.” —