The review of the Syrian Arab Republic on 16 May 2012 was held by the experts of the Committee against Torture in the absence of a Syrian delegation. The review was webcasted by Alkarama and is available below. The Syrian authorities had not submitted a special report as requested by the Committee either, and instead chose to accuse the body composed of experts in the field of torture prevention of "issuing inaccurate and biased information (...) in a process similar to money-laundering." This marks a new low in Syria's cooperation with the UN human rights mechanisms.
Committee against torture - Special Review on Syria
Some of the strongest recommendations by the Committee to the Syrian authorities include to "cease widespread, gross and continued human rights violations of all persons under its jurisdiction" and to "unambiguously reaffirm the absolute nature of the prohibition against torture and immediately cease and publicly condemn widespread and systematic practices of torture (...) accompanied by a clear warning that anyone committing such acts (...) will be held personally responsible before the law for such acts." More concretely, the Committee recommends to "release all persons arbitrarily detained; and ensure that no one is detained in secret detention facilities." This is based on the Committee's reasoning that "such secret detention facilities are per se breaches of the Convention and lead inevitably to cases of torture and ill-treatment."
It has to be noted that the Committee does not explicitly state that crimes against humanity are being committed in Syria or recommend referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, it takes up both the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria's findings on the criminal responsibility of high ranking officials for crimes against humanity as well as the assessment of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the killings of Al Houla, which "may amount to crimes against humanity or other forms of international crime." Reading the Committee against Torture's concluding observations as a whole, it appears that the experts consciously integrated the terminology of the Rome Statute into the text. This can be read as implicit support by the Committee for the situation to be referred to the ICC.
Alkarama welcomes the fact that the Committee decided not only to issue strong concluding observations, but also to request the Syrian authorities provide the Committee with a follow-up report at the next possible occasion, which underlines the Committee's resolution to remain seized of the matter. Alarmed at the ongoing and widespread violations committed in Syria, we will continue to monitor the situation and intend to provide information in follow-up to the special review to the Committee against Torture.