The UN organization that helps investigate the most serious crimes in Syria said on Monday that the country’s new officials were “very receptive” to its request for cooperation during a recently concluded visit to Damascus, and that it was preparing for the deployment. doing.
The visit, led by Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, was the first since the organization was established by the UN General Assembly in 2016. It was created to assist in gathering evidence and prosecuting those responsible. Possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide since the civil war in Syria began in 2011.
Pettit highlighted the urgency to preserve documents and other evidence before they are lost.
There have been growing calls from Syrians for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities and killings during his time in power, following the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad by rebels and the opening up of prisons and detention facilities by rebels.
“The fall of the Assad regime is an important opportunity for us to fulfill our mandate on the ground,” Petit said. “Time is running out. There is a small window of opportunity to secure these sites and the content they contain.
UN associate spokesman Stephane Tremblay said on Monday that the investigation team was “preparing for operational deployment as soon as possible and as soon as it is authorized to conduct activities on Syrian soil.”
“We are preparing to deploy on the expectation that we will get authorization,” a spokesman for the organization, known as IIIM, who was on the trip with Pettit, told The Associated Press.
“Representatives of the acting authorities were very receptive to our request for cooperation and are aware of the scale of the work ahead,” the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They emphasized that they would need expertise to help protect the newly accessible documents.”
IIIM did not disclose which officials in the new government he met or which sites Petit visited thereafter.
“Even at one facility,” Petit said, “the mountains of government documents reveal the appalling efficiency of organizing the regime’s atrocious crimes.”
He said the priority will require a collective effort by the Syrian people, civil society organizations and international partners, “to preserve evidence of the crimes committed, avoid repetition, and ensure that all victims are inclusively represented in the pursuit of justice.” yes.”
In June 2023, the 193-member General Assembly also established an independent Institute of Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic to clarify the fate and whereabouts of more than 130,000 people missing as a result of the conflict.