DOES THE BRUTAL CRACKDOWN ON SYRIAN PROTESTERS BREACH INTERNATIONAL LAW? by Craig Chappell

January 2011 saw the beginning of a wave of protests that would sweep across the Middle East and engulf the most dictatorial countries in the world, from Libya to Tunisia we saw the people rise up and begin fighting for democracy, for the freedom that us ‘Westerners’ have enjoyed for decades. Now, the attention of the world has become focussed on Syria, for 12 months the Syrian people have endured brutal force inflicted by the army of Bashar Al-Assad but does this crackdown breach International Law and can he now be branded a War Criminal?

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal court created the International Criminal Court and was adopted nearly 20 years ago.  The ICC can investigate and prosecute the core international crimes that most of us would never condone in states where the Government are unwilling to do so themselves. Genocide and crimes against humanity are the two main phrases that many would associate with the ICC.  In the past few months the murderous Assad regime has intensified its crackdown on, what they claim are “Foreign-backed terrorists”, and have focussed on the most rebellious areas, particularly the City of Homs.  We have since seen the retaking of this city and those that have fortunately managed to escape and cross the borders into Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan have told of their experiences, told of the people hunted down like wild animals and shot dead just for simply asking for freedom.  I, like I am sure you are, am shocked and disgusted by these crimes but can we, legally, say that President Assad is now a War Criminal and should the International Criminal Court issue an arrest warrant for him? Under the Rome Statue of the ICC Crimes against humanity are defined as “particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority”. Lets assess this sentence by sentence, the definition includes the words “serious attack on... one or more human beings”. Homs is a city of an estimated 1,000,000 inhabitants and areas of this city, particularly Baba Amr had been under shelling for nearly 1 month. If this does not constitute a serious attack on “one or more human beings” than I ask you what does?  The sentence “are part of either government policy... or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government” is a particularly interesting one. It is apparent that President Assad will not stop until the ‘terrorists’, i.e. the civilian protesters, have been eliminated. It has also been reported by activists that defector soldiers from the army of Bashar Al-Assad had been ordered to ‘shoot to kill’ and have had orders to ‘kill anything that moves’. The UN has estimated that 7,500 people are already dead; activists say that number is much higher, possibly even breaching the 10,000 mark. Again, if this does not seem like government policy then I ask you what does?  In summary it looks as if President Assad, who seems more intent everyday (despite numerous attempts by several nations to calm the situation) on wiping out all opposition, whether they are grown men or small children, nobody is spared the punishment of the vicious Assad regime. It also seems that he has breached International Law by ordering the killing of thousands of civilians and he can be rightly branded a war criminal, accused of Crimes against humanity. In a final note I ask this, how long will it take the United Nations Security Council to heed its obligations under the Rome Statute and intervene in this escalating and bloody crisis? In Libya the ICC issued arrest warrants for several members of the Gadaffi regime, including Colonel Gadaffi himself and I would argue that the situation in Syria has surpassed the level of violence used in Libya and as such it is now time for the ICC to uphold its International Legal obligations.