U.N. to publish names of Syria war crimes suspects

United Nations war crimes investigators plan to publish names of suspects involved in Syria's four-year war and push for new ways to bring them to justice.

Diplomatic sources told Reuters the independent Commission of Inquiry, led by Brazilian investigator Paulo Pinheiro, may publish some or all of hundreds of names on secret lists of suspects at the U.N. Human Rights Council on March 17.

The move announced on Friday is considered a radical change of strategy by war crime investigators that have already compiled four lists but have been kept secret.

The lists include military and security commanders, the heads of detention facilities, and commanders of non-state armed groups. A new fifth list would consolidate the first four.

The report, the latest in a series documenting human rights abuses such as torture, sex crimes, murder and the use of child soldiers, said the international community had failed in its duty to protect Syria's civilians.

The fighting has killed more than 200,000 people and forced 10 million from their homes, triggering a regional humanitarian crisis that shows no sign of ending.

Without naming Bashar al-Assad's allies such as the Iranian regime, the investigators made plain that they blamed such countries for the continuing bloodshed.

The commission may release the list of alleged war criminals at a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 17.

Meanwhile, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a recent interview that she had warned the United Nations Security Council about human rights violations worldwide including in Syria but no action was taken for ‘narrow political interests.’

She believes the world community bears responsibility for the civil war rages on, and that IS has gained ground in Syria and Iraq, according to an interview with NRK.

Pilay said: “The international community has failed. We should have seen it coming.”

She asked the Security Council to show greater willingness to take measures to put an end to the conflict in Syria and stresses urgency.

“I wish others could hear the cries for help from ordinary people. They say they are not protected. The international community must respond. We have a duty to intervene when a state fails to protect its own population,” she adds.