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Rapes and War Crimes Committed In Syria by Govt Troops says Report out of SU Law School

 A report released in Syracuse today details rape and other crimes against women during the war in Syria, many by Syrian Government Forces.

The report from the Syrian Accountability Project details 142 reported rapes between March 2011 and January 2015, and more than 80 percent of the alleged attackers were with the Syrian government.

"Major war crimes and crimes against humanity are being perpetrated largely by Assad and his affiliated organizations," said SU Law Professor David Crane, Director of the Syrian Accountability Project. "And that’s one of the findings within the report, as you will see, that a lot of the rapes are being done by the Assad regime and the organizations that align themselves with that."

SU Law Professor David Crane is project leader of the Syrian Accountability Project and has experience as a UN war Crimes prosecutor for cases in Sierra Leone.  He calls rape a tool of war, used to intimidate but also done to shame women, who as Muslims are culturally destroyed by being the victims of a sex crime.  United Nations Undersecretary on Sexual Violence ZainabHawaBangura was in Syracuse to help release the report, which sheds light on the hidden victims of the Syrian conflict.

Most of the rapes in Syria occur while in detainment.

"This is a conflict that is being fought on the bodies of women and children. When you have at houses, at checkpoints, at border crossings and in camps where they are living, at every time of their movement they become vulnerable to attack. They’re sexually abused."

Syria is not unique. Crane says in many of the conflicts in countries with troubled governments and insurgent groups there are troubling consequences.

"The dirty little wars of the 21st Century, it’s always women and children who pay the price. One of the things we wanted to highlight in this snapshot analysis of rape in Syria was to bring the world’s attention the plight of women and the horror that they are particularly finding themselves in now. Rape is a tool of war, and people who do that have to be brought to justice."

Bangura says the UN, the US Secretary of State and much of the international community is taking notice and will demand justice.

"I think there is a consensus around the world that there has to be accountability because the crimes are so open. They’re committed. I mean,  we have never experienced what is happening in Syria. Where women are sold into slave markets. Where they actually have a market to sell women. Where women are raped, and its public. So, the issue of is there going to be accountability is not a question. It’s when and how. "

zainab_sot.mp3
United Nations Undersecretary on Sexual Violence Zainab Hawa Bangura discusses the importance of this report.

Both Bangura and Crane mainly want to see accountability for such crimes.  The reportLooking through the Window Darkly: A Snapshot Analysis of Rape in Syrialays the ground work for future persecutions.  Crane says it includes evidence, but sample indictments and highlights both international law and local Syrian law for charges.  It’s eventually up to the UN and International community to set up a war crimes court – with this report to help find justice.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.