Syria’s recovery could be a ‘success story’ if the world acts, Security Council told
NEW YORK CITY: Syria remains at a “critical, yet promising” juncture, the UN warned on Friday, as senior officials told the Security Council that progress on efforts related to accountability, recovery and the return of refugees risk being undermined by insecurity and economic hardship, coupled with severe gaps in humanitarian funding.
Briefing council members in New York, the UN’s deputy special envoy for Syria, Claudio Cordone, said there had been “progress toward accountability and sustained international and regional engagement” in the past weeks but he cautioned that “unresolved tensions, economic hardship and repeated violations of Syria’s sovereignty persist.”
He highlighted a series of high-profile legal developments tied to crimes committed during the Syrian civil war, describing them as significant steps in the fight against impunity.
On May 10, former security official Atef Najib appeared in court to face charges linked to the violent suppression of antigovernment demonstrations in Daraa in 2011 at the outset of the uprising. Former Syrian president Bashar Assad, his brother Maher Assad and others are being tried in absentia in the same case.
