EU foreign ministers on Wednesday said they would demand "accountability" from Syria's government and militias over any crimes committed since the 2011 uprising plunged the nation into civil war.
"Our countries are committed to ensuring that war criminals and torturers will not go unpunished," the 18 ministers said on the French Foreign Ministry website.
In the past 10 years nearly 400,000 people have been killed and more than six million have been forced to flee the country to escape "countless violations of human rights", the ministers said.
Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has also been accused of using chemical weapons in breach of international law as he retook control of the country.
"Full light must be shed on this decade of atrocities," the ministers said.
"We continue to call for the International Criminal Court to be allowed to investigate crimes alleged to be committed in Syria and prosecute the perpetrators."
Cases have already been filed in several European countries on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows suspects to be tried outside the territory of where the crimes were committed.
A German court in February convicted a former Syrian intelligence service agent for complicity in crimes against humanity, in the first such court case worldwide.
International donors on Tuesday pledged $6.4 billion in aid for Syria and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, missing the $10bn target urged by the UN.
The need for aid has increased after the coronavirus pandemic and a slump in the value of the Syrian pound, which has sent food prices soaring.
Efforts have stalled to find a lasting peace deal to end a conflict that has pitched world powers against each other and fuelled the rise of the ISIS.
European countries insist they will not spend money on a broader rebuilding in Syria until Mr Al Assad commits to a genuine process to resolve the conflict.
The five pillars of Islam
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
The years Ramadan fell in May
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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The burning issue
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The years Ramadan fell in May
