Syria | The UN calls for “credible” justice and more humanitarian aid

(Damascus) Syria needs “credible” justice to avoid acts of “revenge” as well as increased humanitarian aid, said visiting UN envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen on Sunday in Damascus, a week after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

During a lightning offensive launched from Idlib (Northwest), a coalition of rebel factions led by the radical Sunni group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took Damascus on December 8, putting an end to the power of Bashar al-Assad who ruled the country with an iron fist.

“We need to see that there is justice and accountability established for the crimes committed. And we must ensure that this happens through a credible judicial system, and that there is no revenge,” he said upon arriving in the Syrian capital, according to his statements sent to journalists.

With the arrival of a new power, Mr. Pedersen spoke of an “immense” change which “creates great hopes”.

“But we all know that there are still many challenges to overcome” and “we must therefore do things correctly from the start”, he said, while he is due to meet the new authorities in Damascus.

The UN envoy calls for the establishment of a “political process that includes all Syrians”: “This process must obviously be led by the Syrians themselves” with “the help and assistance that we hope.”

Mr. Pedersen has called in recent days for the establishment of an “inclusive” transition to avoid a “new civil war” in Syria, where a conflict was triggered in 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations.

Sanctions

In Jordan, a country neighboring Syria, he participated on Saturday in discussions bringing together American, Arab, European and Turkish diplomats, who agreed that the transition process must “be led […] by the Syrians themselves and achieve an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government,” according to a joint statement.

HTS, led by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, claims to have broken with jihadism but remains classified as “terrorist” by several Western capitals, including Washington. The EU took sanctions against the group and its leaders.

“There are a variety of sanctions imposed by member states/entities which have an impact on Syria and HTS” in particular, the spokesperson for the UN envoy, Jenifer Fenton, told AFP on Sunday.

“There is the whole question of economic recovery. We must ensure that this issue is resolved quickly. We hope that the sanctions will be lifted quickly, so that we can witness a real mobilization around the reconstruction of Syria,” said Mr. Pedersen, without specifying whether he was talking about the sanctions against Syria by Mr. Assad or HTS.

He also considers that humanitarian aid is also very important in the immediate future.

“We all know that Syria has been going through a huge humanitarian crisis. We must ensure that Syria receives increased immediate humanitarian assistance for the people in Syria, and for all refugees who wish to return. This is extremely important,” said Mr. Pedersen.

The war in Syria has left more than half a million dead, devastated the country and forced some six million Syrians, or a quarter of the population, to flee.