United Nations Human Rights Report On Syria Uncovers Massive Violence And Killings In Detention Centers

by Jean Marie Abellana / Feb 10, 2016 10:06 PM EST

United Nations Security Council held a meeting in New York City to discuss about the situation in Syria (Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images)

The civil war in Syria has brought terror to its people because of massive violence, crimes, and human rights violation. A recent United Nations Human Rights Council report has revealed data on the "deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic. The report unveiled information on the rampant abuse and extermination of detainees in Syrian jails and detention centers.

The 25-page report contains information gathered between Mar. 10, 2011 and Nov. 30, 2015. 621 witnesses were able to share their accounts of incidents involving torture, abuses and killings in Syrian jails and detention centers. The report is also backed with other substantial documentary evidences.

According to the report, detainees held by President Bashar al-Assad's regime were beaten and tortured to death inside the prisons where they were kept. Some were not able to survive the "inhuman living conditions" inside the centers, while others were exterminated, murdered, raped, imprisoned and sexually violated.

The U.N. report also detailed human rights abuses committed by anti-government armed groups such as ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra. They allegedly detained government soldiers and civilians in multiple locations where they were maltreated, tortured and executed.

The situation in Syria is described as "an urgent large-scale crisis of human rights protection."

"These actions, in pursuance of a state policy, amount to extermination as a crime against humanity," said United Nations Human Rights Investigator Sergio Pinheiro, as quoted by BBC News Monday.

These findings have propelled the United Nations Human Rights Council to recommend that the Syrian Arab Republic Government should take necessary measures to protect the lives of its detainees from abuse, ill-treatment and deprivation of liberty. The Syrian government is also encouraged to provide reparations and compensations for the families of the tortured and deceased prisoners. Granting access to human rights organizations and other recognized institutions such as the International Committee of the Red Cross is also being pushed forward.

The abusers are also being compelled to fully comply with humanitarian law standards by halting torture, summary executions and illicit trials.