Canada, Netherlands take Syria to International Court of Justice over torture claims

Canada and the Netherlands are taking Syria to the World Court over torture claims, the International Court of Justice said on Monday.

In their application, Canada and the Netherlands claim that "Syria has committed countless violations of International law, beginning at least in 2011" and ask for emergency measures to protect those at risk of being tortured, the ICJ — also known as the World Court — said in a statement.

They are seeking to hold the government of President Bashar al-Assad accountable for gross human rights violations and torture under the UN Convention against Torture, which Damascus ratified in 2004.

"Since 2011, Syrians have been tortured, murdered, sexually assaulted, forcibly disappeared and subjected to chemical weapon attacks on a mass scale," Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra said in a joint statement.

"Twelve years on, human rights violations at the hands of the Syrian regime persist."

In their application, Canada and the Netherlands have asked the court to issue emergency orders for Syria to cease all acts of torture and cruel treatment and to end arbitrary detentions, among other things.

Usually, the International Court of Justice will order emergency hearings to mull such requests within days of receiving a claim.

"Canada and the Netherlands are guided by the firm belief that there can be no sustainable peace and lasting reconciliation in Syria without accountability for human rights violations and justice for its victims and survivors," said the statement.

If it finds it has jurisdiction, the ICJ would be the first international court to be able to make a legal finding on the alleged state use of torture in Syria.

Canada and the Netherlands decided to act in 2020 after Russia blocked multiple efforts in the United Nations Security Council to refer a case on human rights violations in Syria to the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes individuals for war crimes and is also based in The Hague.

So far, there has been just one conviction for the use of torture by a former Syrian state official — in a landmark trial in Germany in January last year. The German case was filed under the country's universal jurisdiction laws, allowing its courts to prosecute crimes against humanity committed anywhere.

Cases before the ICJ usually take years to reach a final verdict, but emergency orders can be issued within weeks.

Syria's 12-year civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and drawn in regional and world powers. The devastation of the conflict has been compounded by the large-scale destruction caused by earthquakes that hit northwestern Syria in February.