Governments Don't Outsource Atrocities to Militias. Here's What Really Happens

Monkey Cage Blog

Refugees are fleeing Syria in such astonishing numbers because armed groups continue to target civilians with violence.

That's what we heard in September when the U.N. Human Rights Council discussed the most recent report of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria. The commission's chair, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, made a plea for international action to end the conflict, pointing to gross violations of the laws of war by all the warring parties: indiscriminate bombing of civilian homes, the deliberate torture and murder of civilians, and widespread rape and sexual violence as acts of war.

On Nov. 19, the U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee approved a draft resolution based on the commission's report, which strongly condemned these human rights violations and called for greater accountability....

Continue reading: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/12/22/governments-dont-outsource-atrocities-to-militias-heres-what-really-happens/