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Hague pledges to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes in Syria

January 30, 2014 at 2:57 pm

Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague, has promised to bring those responsible for “unbearable crimes” in Syria to justice. He accused the Syrian regime of massive human rights violations.

Following the release of his department’s annual human rights report (2012) Hague said: “There must be no doubt that those responsible for crimes will be brought to justice.”


Toward this end, the UK has trained more than 300 Syrian journalist and human rights activists on how to document human rights violations. It aims at collecting enough proofs for successful trials. Mr Hague said there was an urgent need for a decisive international response to the appalling disaster which is unfolding in Syria. More than 100 individuals are being killed everyday, he said. The total number of victims has no exceeded 70,000.

Meanwhile there is mounting evidence of gross violations committed by the forces and militias aligned to the regime. They include; massacres, executions, torture and organised rape.

The Foreign Secretary pointed out that Britain has contributed about £140 million for various forms of humanitarian aid since the beginning of the Syrian crisis. The money, Hague pointed out, was used to provide clean drinking water, medical care, blankets and shelters for tens of thousands refugees.

Mr Hague asserted the need to deal effectively with the aftereffects of the Arab Spring and to support the countries through their transitional phases. The Middle East nations showed “unbelievable courage” and “our support makes them more free and open,” he said.