The Foreign Ministers of 18 EU Member States called for action against impunity for crimes committed in Syria in an op-ed published on 31 March.
The 18 Ministers (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden) believe that “full light must be shed on this decade of atrocities”.
“Our countries are committed to ensuring that war criminals and torturers will not go unpunished. Their crimes will not win over the Syrian peoples’ aspirations for dignity and for justice”, they insist.
According to these countries, many of the crimes committed, “for which the regime and its external supporters bear the main responsibility”, including those committed by Daech and other armed groups, “may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”. It is therefore everyone’s responsibility to fight against impunity for the perpetrators of these acts and to hold them accountable, whoever they may be, they explain.
Recalling the seriousness of the events, the Ministers warn that they will continue to call for the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute the alleged crimes.
See the op-ed: https://bit.ly/3witGwD (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)