Researchers who have painstakingly documented the horrors of the Syrian conflict for years called on world leaders on Wednesday to do everything to prevent Ukraine from sinking into the same hellish spiral.
Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Syria expressed the hope that the disdain towards civilian victims shown by the Russian military in Syria –where they have been involved in the civil war since 2015– is not repeated in Ukraine, whose invasion was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
The president of the Commission, Paulo Pinheiro, recalled in Syria the millions of displaced people, the 100,000 disappeared, the massive poverty and the violations of all human rights, in addition to the crimes against humanity committed during that war.
“We just hope that the leaders of the whole world do everything possible to prevent the same fate wait for Ukraine” he said during a meeting with the press.
Syrian and Russian forces “fighting together, continued to bombard densely populated civilian areas in northwestern Syria without discrimination,” he recalled.
Pinheiro also stressed that the Syrians and Russians insist that humanitarian aid leave the capital Damascus, instead of going through the border, but “their attacks in the northwest occur along the roads that should serve to transport that aid.” .
“Since 2015 we see practices of the Russian Federation in this conflict (in Syria) that we see today in another country,” adds Pinheiro, alluding to Ukraine.
The Commission has a mission investigate all human rights violations committed in Syria since the beginning of the war, which has lasted 11 years.
Researchers who have painstakingly documented the horrors of the Syrian conflict for years called on world leaders on Wednesday to do everything to prevent Ukraine from sinking into the same hellish spiral.
Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Syria expressed the hope that the disdain towards civilian victims shown by the Russian military in Syria –where they have been involved in the civil war since 2015– is not repeated in Ukraine, whose invasion was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
The president of the Commission, Paulo Pinheiro, recalled in Syria the millions of displaced people, the 100,000 disappeared, the massive poverty and the violations of all human rights, in addition to the crimes against humanity committed during that war.
“We just hope that the leaders of the whole world do everything possible to prevent the same fate wait for Ukraine” he said during a meeting with the press.
Syrian and Russian forces “fighting together, continued to bombard densely populated civilian areas in northwestern Syria without discrimination,” he recalled.
Pinheiro also stressed that the Syrians and Russians insist that humanitarian aid leave the capital Damascus, instead of going through the border, but “their attacks in the northwest occur along the roads that should serve to transport that aid.” .
“Since 2015 we see practices of the Russian Federation in this conflict (in Syria) that we see today in another country,” adds Pinheiro, alluding to Ukraine.
The Commission has a mission investigate all human rights violations committed in Syria since the beginning of the war, which has lasted 11 years.
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