In the first international case pertaining to the terrible civil conflict that started in 2011, the UN’s top court is set to rule on Thursday regarding an alleged torture program in Syria that, according to investigators, killed tens of thousands of people.
Arguing that “every day counts” for individuals who are still in imprisonment, Canada and the Netherlands have urged the International Court of Justice to “urgently” order an end to torture in Syrian prisons.
The verdict was rendered just one day after Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad was the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by France on charges that he participated in chemical strikes in 2013 against people.
In October, judges at the ICJ in The Hague heard searing testimony from Syrian detainees describing gang rape, mutilation and punishment involving contorting people into a car tyre and beating them.
The court has been asked to issue “provisional measures” to stop torture and arbitrary detention in Syria, open prisons to outside inspectors and provide information to families about the fate of their loved ones.
Torture in Syria is “pervasive and entrenched… and continues today”, Canada and the Netherlands wrote in their submission to the ICJ.
Victims endure “unimaginable physical and mental pain and suffering as a result of acts of torture, including abhorrent treatment in detention… and sexual and gender-based violence”, the submission added.
“Tens of thousands have died, or are presumed dead, as a result of torture,” the two countries added, citing a report from the UN Human Rights Council.
Damascus snubbed the October hearing but has previously dismissed the case as “disinformation and lies” and said the allegations “lack the slightest degree of credibility”.
“It is our sincere belief that the lives and well-being of Syrians are at stake and require the court’s immediate attention,” said Rene Lefeber, top representative for the Netherlands, at the hearing on October 10.
While there have been individual war crimes cases linked to the Syrian war in some countries, there has long been frustration in Western capitals at the lack of any wider plan for international justice.
In September 2020, the Netherlands made their initial attempt to hold Syria accountable for purported violations of the UN Convention against Torture, to which Damascus is a signatory.
The following March, Canada entered the case.
Because Damascus never accepted the Rome Statute, the tribunal’s founding instrument, the International Criminal Court (ICC), a war crimes court with its headquarters in The Hague like the International Criminal Court (ICJ), has been unable to deal with Syria.
After Assad rejoined the world community in May to attend an Arab League conference, the issue has attracted fresh attention.
