The Dutch government said it wanted to hold the Syrian government accountable for widespread human rights violations under international law, including the UN Convention against Torture, a day later.
“The Assad regime has been committing horrific crimes from time to time. The evidence is overwhelming. There must be consequences,” Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Block said in a statement published on the ministry’s website.
The bloc said the Syrian government was informed of the decision through a diplomatic note, calling on Damascus to stop human rights violations and seek revenge for the victims.
“International organizations have repeatedly reported serious human rights violations over the years. Large numbers of Syrians have been tortured, killed, forcibly disappeared, and have suffered poison-gas attacks or lost everything fleeing for their lives.” The Dutch government said in a statement.
The Dutch government has called on Syria to come to the negotiations, saying doing so is “the first step needed to resolve the dispute.”
It is unlikely that the offer of talks will be accepted by Damascus, which responded to the announcement by its foreign ministry, accusing the Dutch government of financing and supporting terrorist groups in Syria.
If the two countries are unable to resolve the dispute, the Netherlands can take the case to arbitration, and if no agreement is reached, it will take the case to the International Court of Justice, according to a Dutch statement.
In a statement, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Netherlands’ action was “nothing more than an exercise in concealing the regime’s scandals and trying to thwart what could support terrorist organizations in Syria.”
The Dutch government says about 200,000 Syrian civilians have died in Syria’s civil war since 2011 and about 100,000 are missing.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, about .6. Millions of Syrians have fled the country and about .6. Millions upon millions of people have been internally displaced.
Balkis Jarrah, associate director of international justice at Human Rights Watch, welcomed the Dutch move.
Jarrah said in a statement released on Friday that all those, especially governments, who have been shocked by the widespread atrocities committed by documented groups in Syria, should publicly welcome the move and seek similar ways to uphold the rule of law.
“For years, thousands have been systematically starved, beaten and tortured in Syrian prisons for their deaths. .The world’s highest court. “Jarrah added.
CNN’s Taylor Barnes in Atlanta and Turkey’s Gaziantep in Yad Kurdi contributed to this report.
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