The report by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria makes grim reading: it details deliberate attacks against civilians, and unabated violations of human rights such as torture, illegal detentions, executions and sexual violence. It documents the breadth of barbarity carried out by the Asad regime against its own people, with deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and markets. The report also details the destruction of Syria’s cultural heritage by Daesh. Syria is being ripped apart by this widespread destruction, the fuelling of sectarian divisions, and the slaughter and scattering of its communities.
The COI must be allowed to continue gathering evidence so that one day Asad and other perpetrators of human rights abuses and possible war crimes can be held to account. There can be no lasting peace without justice; there must be no impunity.