\n
<\/p>\n
Speaking from Damascus after meeting the leader of the caretaker authorities, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, Mr. T\u00fcrk said that he had been \u201cassured\u2026of the importance of respect for human rights for all Syrians and all different components of Syrian society\u201d.<\/p>\n
Syria\u2019s de facto leader – who spearheaded the lightning overthrow of Bashar Al Assad on 8 December at the head of opposition fighters Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) –\u00a0 also underscored \u201cthe pursuit of healing, trust building and social cohesion, and the reform of institutions\u201d, the High Commissioner said<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut the challenges are immense<\/strong>,\u201d he continued, pointing to the \u201chundreds of thousands of lives\u201d lost, the fact that much of the country lies in ruins\u201d.<\/p>\n Today, nine in 10 Syrians are \u201cmired in poverty, the health system is on its knees and many schools are closed,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said. \u201cMillions are still displaced both inside and outside the country. The rights to food, health, education and housing are fundamental human rights, and there must be prompt, collective and concerted efforts to guarantee them.\u201d<\/p>\n Calling for \u201can urgent reconsideration\u201d of ongoing sanctions on Syria \u201cwith a view to lifting them\u201d<\/strong>, the UN rights chief said that considering their impact on the lives of the Syrian people was key.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mr. T\u00fcrk \u2013 whose visit to Syria is a first for any UN High Commissioner for Human Rights \u2013 said that he had heard harrowing testimony from numerous victims of torture.\u00a0<\/p>\n They included some jailed at the notorious Sednaya prison outside Damascus, where his Office documented violations \u201cfor years\u201d.<\/p>\n The UN rights chief described prisoners telling him that \u201cearly in the morning, as they heard the guards at their door, trembling in fear, they retreated to the rear of the cell, fearing they would be hauled out again to be tortured, or even executed<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands died in prisons throughout Syria, the High Commissioner explained, as he went on to condemn the \u201capocalyptic wasteland\u201d of the bombed-out residential neighbourhood of Jobar, in Damascus, which he visited.<\/p>\n \u201cNot a single building in the area was spared bombardment in wave after wave of attacks,\u201d Mr. T\u00fcrk said, adding that it was \u201cinconceivable that such mass killings and destruction\u201d<\/strong> had happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was equally difficult to believe \u201cthat banned chemical weapons were used against civilians elsewhere in the country and not just once\u201d, the UN rights chief said \u2013 a likely reference to several deadly chlorine gas attacks,\u00a0including on two residential buldings in Douma in northeast Damascus by the Syrian air force on 7 April 2018.<\/p>\n It \u201csays a lot about the extreme brutality of the tactics used by the former regime\u201d, whose acts \u201cconstitute some of the most serious crimes under international humanitarian law.\u201d<\/p>\nStaggering needs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Sednaya horrors<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Mass killing, destruction<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u2018Real threats\u2019 to Syria remain<\/strong><\/h2>\n