Human rights lawyers have asked the International Criminal Court to open a preliminary probe into alleged mass deportations by Syrian authorities, in an attempt to hold Bashar Assad's regime accountable for war atrocities, the Associated Press reported.
Lawyer Toby Cadman said Thursday that legal experts at the Guernica Centre for International Justice argue that a precedent set last year in a case involving the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar can be used to give the Hague-based court jurisdiction over at least part of the devastating Syrian conflict.
The ICC does not have jurisdiction over crimes committed in Syria because the country is not a member of the court. That has meant that numerous allegations of atrocities committed during the conflict have not been prosecuted at the world's first permanent criminal tribunal.
Cadman wants that to change.
He and other lawyers handed over a file to prosecutors this week arguing that the court could exercise jurisdiction over Syrian civilians forced into Jordan, which is a member of the court.
In a telephone interview, Cadman said the Rohingya case could be replicated for Syria.
Though Myanmar is not a member of the court, Bangladesh is. In a groundbreaking ruling last year, ICC judges said that because Muslim Rohingya people were driven from Myanmar into Bangladesh the court has jurisdiction.
"The same principle should apply to Syria and Jordan," AP quoted Cadman as saying.
Cadman said atrocities committed by regime forces in Syria forced about a million civilians to flee into Jordan and the threat of more mistreatment if they return is preventing them from returning home.
“The devastating war in Syria has been going on for almost nine years now and no one has yet been held accountable for the hundreds of thousands of violations against civilians,” said leading lawyer Rodney Dixon.
“This case represents a genuine breakthrough for the Syrian victims," Dixon said, according to Reuters.
The ICC is a court of last resort, which steps in only when national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute alleged crimes.
In a written response, the ICC prosecutor's office confirmed it had received the filing and said it will analyze the material.
"As soon as we reach a decision on the appropriate next step, we will inform the sender and provide reasons for our decision," the office said.
The United Nations General Assembly set up a special team in 2016 to prepare possible cases over war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict in Syria.
However, previous efforts to prosecute members of Assad’s government have failed and Russia and China have also vetoed attempts to give the ICC a mandate to set up a special tribunal for Syria.
