“Deprival of food, water, shelter and medical care – a method of war in Syria, and a crime against humanity” ---- DisplayNews
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“Deprival of food, water, shelter and medical care – a method of war in Syria, and a crime against humanity”
GENEVA
(6 February 2014) – A group of United Nations independent experts* on
the human rights to food, health, housing, water and sanitation, and on
summary executions and torture, today urged all parties to the Syrian
conflict to stop the use of civilian suffering as a method of war.
“As reports are piling up of indiscriminate shelling of civilians,
enforced disappearances and executions, another horror of the war in
Syria is becoming apparent: the deprivation of basic necessities of life
and the denial of humanitarian relief as a method of war,” they warned.
“Depriving people of their access to food and water, impeding their
access to health services and wantonly destroying their housing
constitute clear violations of the human rights to food, to water, to
sanitation, to housing, to health, and to freedom from inhumane
treatment, protected under international human rights treaties,” the
experts said.
“The acts being committed amount to crimes against humanity, carried
out as a deliberate and systematic effort to cause civilian suffering,”
the rights experts stressed. “They also constitute war crimes and
serious violations of customary international humanitarian law which
binds all parties.”
The experts underscored that targeting medical units and medical
personnel, making civilians the object of attack, subjecting them to
inhumane treatment, obstructing humanitarian relief, attacking objects
crucial for the survival of civilians, and using starvation as a method
of warfare is explicitly banned.
The UN estimates that 9.3 million people are in urgent need of
humanitarian assistance. Some 6.5 million people live as internally
displaced within the country, having fled their homes and left behind
their sources of livelihood. More than 6 million are in critical need of
sustained food assistance.
“Numerous cases show that government and pro-government forces as
well as armed opposition groups are impeding humanitarian relief to
populations facing extreme deprivation, including children, women, older
persons, persons with disabilities, the chronically sick, and civilians
and persons hors combat held in detention,” the group of experts said.
The situation is most critical for the quarter of a million people
living in communities under siege, such as Nubul and Al-Zahraa in rural
Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, Darayya and Moadamiyah in rural Damascus, the
Old City in Homs; and the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus.
The UN estimates that over 100,000 people trapped in and around
Yarmouk Camp are now in severe risk of starvation. From other besieged
areas, reports are emerging of chronic child malnutrition and health
problems caused by a lack of access to vital nutrients and safe drinking
water.
“Apart from obstructing humanitarian access through sieges and tight
check-points, attacks have been carried out to destroy harvests, kill
livestock, and cut off water supplies, with the apparent aim of starving
out the targeted populations,” the experts noted. “At the same time,
entire neighborhoods and residences are being razed, aggravating the
dire housing situation, causing further displacement.”
“We also express alarm at consistent reports of deliberate
destruction of hospitals and medical units, and of arrests,
ill-treatment, torture and killings of doctors, nurses, medical
volunteers and ambulance drivers.”
“These acts are morally abhorrent, and present a major obstacle to
building peace,” they stated. “We are outraged by the extreme human
suffering caused by the apparent blatant disregard for human rights and
humanitarian law.”
“We urge all parties to the conflict to ensure immediate humanitarian
relief to the large parts of the population experiencing extreme
deprivation. The use of civilian suffering as a method of war must
stop,” the group of experts concluded.
(*) The experts: The Special Rapporteur on the right
to food, Olivier De Schutter; the Special Rapporteur on the right of
everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical
and mental health, Anand Grover; the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on
the right to non-discrimination in this context, Raquel Rolnik; the
Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns; the Special Rapporteur on torture and
other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan E.
Méndez; and the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque.
The United Nations human rights experts are part of what it is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special
Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human
Rights, is the general name of the independent fact-finding and
monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights Council that address either
specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the
world.
They are charged by the Human Rights Council to monitor, report and
advise on human rights issues. Currently, there are 37 thematic mandates
and 14 mandates related to countries and territories, with 72 mandate
holders. In March 2014, three new mandates will be added. Special
Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and
do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any
government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
Learn more, visit:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
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