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STORY: OHCHR / BACHELET SYRIA KILLINGS
TRT: 02:54
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 08 MAY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
08 MAY 2020, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is today expressing her serious concerns about continuing human rights violations and abuses and a sharp rise in killings of civilians across Syria. She is warning that the situation is deteriorating, saying it’s a ticking time-bomb that must not be ignored. We are receiving more reports every day of targeted killings and bombings from one end of the country to the other, with many such attacks taking place in populated areas. Various parties to the conflict in Syria, including ISIL, appear to view the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to regroup and inflict violence on the population. In April, we documented at least 35 civilian deaths due to attacks involving improvised explosive devices, or IEDs as they are called, compared to seven the previous month. And since the start of March, a total of 33 IED attacks, 26 of which took place in residential neighbourhoods, while seven other attacks hit markets. Nearly all of these attacks have occurred in northern and eastern parts of the country under the control of these areas under the control of Turkish armed forces and their affiliated armed groups, or areas under the control of the opposing Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). In one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, 51 people - of whom at least 29 were civilians – and possibly more, were killed on the 28th of April when a fuel truck exploded in a market in the north-western city of Afrin. In most cases, no one is claiming responsibility for the attacks. Then in the south, in the government-controlled Dar’a governate we have documented 52 incidents of apparently targeted killings since the start of March, and these have resulted in the deaths of 17 civilians and injuries to others. In one attack on the 4th of April, former armed group members abducted and killed nine police officers in the town of al-Muzairib in western rural Dar’a. And in the past two weeks, ISIL has claimed responsibility for three attacks in the area. The protection of civilian life is paramount, and the blatant disregard for civilian safety runs contrary to the obligations of all parties must uphold under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The High Commissioner urges all those continuing to fight, kill and displace the battered and beleaguered Syrian people to step back, and give peace a chance.”
With renewed attacks in Syria, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet today (8 May) warned of a “ticking time-bomb” as civilian killings mount, her spokesperson said.
Briefing journalists via video teleconference, the spokesperson, Rupert Colville, said, “we are receiving more reports every day of targeted killings and bombings from one end of the country to the other, with many such attacks taking place in populated areas.”
Colville said, “various parties to the conflict in Syria, including ISIL, appear to view the global focus on the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to regroup and inflict violence on the population.”
According to the human rights office, OHCHR, at least 35 civilian deaths were documented in April due to attacks involving improvised explosive devices IEDs, and since the start of March, there have been a total of 33 IED attacks documented, 26 of which took place in residential neighbourhoods, while seven other attacks hit markets.
Colville said, “nearly all of these attacks have occurred in northern and eastern parts of the country under the control of these areas under the control of Turkish armed forces and their affiliated armed groups, or areas under the control of the opposing Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).”
He pointed out that “in one of the deadliest attacks in recent months, 51 people - of whom at least 29 were civilians – and possibly more, were killed on the 28th of April when a fuel truck exploded in a market in the north-western city of Afrin.”
In most cases, he noted, “no one is claiming responsibility for the attacks.”
Meanwhile in the government-controlled Dar’a governate in the south 52 incidents of apparently targeted killings since were documented since the start of March, resulting in the deaths of 17 civilians and injuries to others.
In one attack on the 4th of April,he spokesperson said, “former armed group members abducted and killed nine police officers in the town of al-Muzairib in western rural Dar’a.
Over the past two weeks, ISIL has claimed responsibility for three attacks in the area.
Colville said, “the protection of civilian life is paramount, and the blatant disregard for civilian safety runs contrary to the obligations of all parties must uphold under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
He said Bachelet has urged “all those continuing to fight, kill and displace the battered and beleaguered Syrian people to step back, and give peace a chance.”
