Syria’s mission to Geneva UN office: Pillay continues to ignore terrorists’ role in crisis

Chargé d’affaires of the Syrian mission to the UN office in Geneva Mohammad al-Mohammad criticized UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay for continuing to ignore the role of armed terrorist groups in the creation and continuation of the crisis in Syria.

This came in a statement during the 26th session of the Human Rights Council held on Tuesday in response to Pillay’s allegations that the Syrian state is ignoring calls for ending violence and finding a peaceful solution for the crisis, and her talk about the situation in Aleppo province.

Al-Mohammad criticized Pillay for equating the sovereign Syrian state which is carrying out its constitutional duty of protecting its citizens with the terrorist groups supported by certain countries, voicing surprise over her refraining from condemning these groups’ crimes.

He said that Pillay’s reference to “external forces and the flow of foreign fighters” as a cause for the intensification of the crisis is a late and unaccepted step, and that she continues in her unprofessional and biased reports and statements on false and undocumented sources, thereby covering up terrorists’ crimes.

Al-Mohammad said that what is actually happening in Aleppo is a group punishment imposed by terrorist groups and the states supporting them, noting that these groups admitted to depriving citizens in Aleppo from drinking water because they support the state.

He also noted that Pillay forgot to mention the hundreds of innocent lives claimed by terrorist mortar and rocket attacks on safe areas, stressing the moral and professional duty should compel her to acknowledge these facts and denounce the terrorists and their supporters, but her insistence to ignore their violations of human rights contradict the very principles that govern her duties, hoping that Pillay’s successor will be impartial, fair, and objective.

Al-Mohammad stressed that the Syrian government had called for dialogue since the beginning of the crisis and engaged in talks in Geneva with serious dedication, in addition to carrying out reconciliations and settlements, the most recent of which having restored security to Homs Old City.