A Call To “Winter Soldiers of Conscience”!

Co-authored with Jonathan D. Greenberg, Scholar in Residence at The Daniel Gould Center of Conflict Resolution at Stanford Law School. ****************************************** 1.Ten weeks ago, in early October, as war crimes and mass atrocities against civilians in Aleppo intensified, humanitarian organizations and individuals of conscience called out in warning. A global coalition of 223 civil society organizations, including Amnesty International, Care International, Human Rights Watch, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Physicians for Human Rights, Save the Children, and the Syrian Relief Network issued a joint statement: “The UN Security Council has failed Syrians. In almost six years of conflict, close to half a million people have been killed and eleven million have been forced to leave their homes. Most recently, the Syrian and Russian governments and their allies have carried out unlawful attacks on eastern Aleppo with scant regard for some 250,000 civilians trapped there. Armed opposition groups have also fired mortars and other projectiles into civilian neighbourhoods of western Aleppo, though according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, ‘indiscriminate airstrikes across the eastern part of the city by Government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties.’ Efforts to stop these atrocities and hold those responsible to account have been blocked repeatedly by Russia, which continues to misuse its veto power in the Security Council.” The organizations “urgently call upon UN member states to step in and request an Emergency Special Session of the UN General Assembly to demand an end to all unlawful attacks in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, and immediate and unhindered humanitarian access so that life-saving aid can reach all those in need.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/01/uniting-peace-syria-global-civil-society-appeal-un-member-states Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, warned that “the whole of eastern Aleppo could be destroyed by Christmas if the ‘cruel, constant’ Russian-backed bombing continues.” The scale of human tragedy in the besieged areas of Aleppo was already overwhelming, and it could become much worse. He called on the world to avert “another Srebrenica, another Rwanda.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/06/aleppo-could-be-destroyed-by-christmas-warns-un-envoy-for-syria Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the slaughter, and demanded accountability from its perpetrators. He said that “crimes of historic proportions” were committed, and that “”Indiscriminate airstrikes across the eastern part of the city by government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties.” http://www.npr.org/2016/12/17/505893462/they-said-never-again Specifically, Zeid called for Russia and Syria to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the bombardment of civilians in Aleppo. A referral to the International Criminal Court, he said, “would be more than justified given the rampant and deeply shocking impunity that has characterized the conflict and the magnitude of the crimes that have been committed…” As reported by Reuters, “Zeid said Syria’s government and its allies attacked targets protected by international law, including medical units, aid workers and water-pumping stations. He said that dropping indiscriminate incendiary weapons in heavily populated areas was particularly concerning, as well as being banned by a treaty that Russia is […]

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