UN rights investigator in Syria for first talks: sources

Geneva: A top UN human rights investigator has been holding talks in Damascus with senior Syrian officials to pave the way for a probe into massacres and other atrocities in the country, UN and diplomatic sources said on Monday. It is the first time Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro has been granted permission to enter Syria since his team was set up in September by the UN Human Rights Council. [caption id=“attachment_356731” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Syria has accused “terrorists” of carrying out the Houla massacre, its term for anti-government rebels leading a 16-month revolt against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.”]  [/caption] “He is trying to pave the way for us to be able to go into the country,” a UN source told Reuters in Geneva. “We need to go before September when our final report is to be submitted.” In reports based on hundreds of interviews with witnesses, survivors and refugees in the region, the team has accused Syrian forces of committing crimes against humanity, including executions and torture. It has also blamed rebels for carrying out atrocities. Pinheiro, a veteran UN rights investigator who acts in an independent capacity, arrived on the unannounced trip to Damascus late on Saturday after securing a visa from the Syrian diplomatic mission in Geneva, diplomatic sources said. He has met deputy foreign minister Faisal Mekdad and is due to return to Geneva on Tuesday, a day before presenting the team’s latest report to the 47-member rights forum, they said. It was not immediately clear what other appointments he had. The Council, at an emergency session held on 1st June, condemned Syria for a massacre of at least 108 people in the Houla region and called for the UN investigators to identify the perpetrators and gather evidence for possible criminal prosecution. Syria has accused “terrorists” of carrying out the Houla massacre, its term for anti-government rebels leading a 16-month revolt against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. The UN team announced last February it had drawn up a confidential list of Syrian officials and commanding officers suspected of murder, abductions and torture. It also identifies armed militants linked to abuses. Although the Human Rights Council has no direct power to punish wrongdoings, the detailed catalogue of abuses and secret list could be the basis for prosecutions by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Syria appears to have agreed to allow Pinheiro access after his team’s report last month contained more allegations of gross human rights violations committed by the militants, UN sources said. “It is a positive signal that they finally accepted to allow them in. But between now and Wednesday what can he (Pinheiro) achieve?” one Arab diplomat said. Reuters