The resolution on Syria passed by the 25th session of the UN Human Rights Council is biased and neglects mentioning the violence of the rebels drawn up in a recent report by an Independent Commission, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
"For instance, while enumerating the violations of human rights the resolution does not make any mentioning of violence on the part of rebels that was described in the report in detail - mass executions, abductions of women and children, sexual violence, the use of children soldiers, mortar shelling of densely populated areas, as well as the terrorist acts committed by the groups making up the Syrian Free Army and closely linked to the Islamic Front," the ministry said.
The Foreign Ministry added that some of the groups that committed
these atrocities, the West is “trying to pass off as a
moderate opposition.”
Each radical group runs a jail in a village or town controlled by
jihadists and tortures are rife in those jails, said the
independent commission in its report as cited by the Russian
ministry.
"A one-sided appeal to the Syrian government to publish a
full list of penitentiaries sounds rather strange," the
ministry said.
The ministry also said that it is puzzling to them that UN
refused Russia’s suggestion concerning the wording of the
document – to condemn terrorism in Syria.
"The Russian side has been actively working with a group of
co-authors and proposed a number of amendments for a balanced
text. Most of our proposals, however, were not taken into
account.”
“This is despite the fact that the agreed counter-terrorism
clause is in Resolution 2139 of the UN Security Council.”
Moreover, the UN Council on Human Rights went far beyond its
mandate, offering to urge Damascus to accelerate the
implementation of the chemical disarmament program, the statement
added.
“UN Council on Human Rights is not authorized to interfere in
the process, to dictate priorities and decide which provisions of
the Geneva communiqué need special attention,” the ministry
stressed.
The UN’s top human rights body voted overwhelmingly on Friday to
renew its war crimes investigation in Syria for another year. The
47-nation Human Rights Council adopted the resolution that again
condemns the violence in Syria’s ongoing civil war and holds the
Syrian government responsible for the atrocities. The resolution
was initiated by the UK, Germany, Jordan, Italy, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, US, France and Turkey. Russia, China,
Venezuela and Cuba voted against it. 11 countries declined to
vote including Algeria, Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Congo,
Namibia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Ethiopia and South Africa.
Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, Syrian envoy to UN’s Geneva HQ, described
the latest resolution as biased against his government.
The resolution was adopted with three aims - to renew the
investigation, condemn as strongly as possible violations of
humanitarian and human rights laws, and support efforts to hold
culprits accountable, said UK Ambassador Karen Pierce.
The violence in Syria has killed more than 140,000 people, forced
millions to flee their homes and triggered a regional
humanitarian crisis dubbed worst in the latest decades.