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UN RIGHTS OFFICE CONDEMNS DESTRUCTION OF SYRIAN HOLY SITES AS ISIL TERROR CONTINUES
UN News Centre
Oct 3 2014
3 October 2014 - The United Nations human rights office today expressed
concern about the continuing wave of destruction unleashed by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) amid reports that the
terrorist group has targeted and destroyed a number of religious
buildings in areas under its control.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), ISIL militants destroyed an important Armenian church in the
Syrian city of Deir Al-Zor in mid-September as part of an ongoing
campaign of violence and terror which has seen the group also blow
up mosques, shrines and damage churches in northern Iraq.
"We condemn the destruction of the church and of other religious
institutions," OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing
in Geneva.
"We stress that religious personnel and buildings dedicated to religion
enjoy specific protection under international humanitarian law and
must be respected and protected by all parties."
Mr. Colville also highlighted his agency's concern about the safety of
three clergymen suspected to have been captured by the militant group.
Both the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo,
Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, were abducted in Aleppo in April
2013 while Paolo Dall'Oglio, a Catholic priest, went missing in Ar
Raqqah city in January. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
In a report jointly produced by OHCHR and the UN Assistance Mission for
Iraq (UNAMI) and released yesterday, the UN describes a host of serious
violations of international humanitarian law and gross abuses of human
rights perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups, including
"attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,
executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape
and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against
women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction
or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance,
wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental
freedoms."
At today's briefing, Mr. Colville pointed out that ISIL's
indiscriminate violence - targeting members of numerous religious
sects including Muslims from other Muslim sects - was a product of
the Takfiri belief system adopted by some extremely radical religious
groups. In applying the Takfir, groups such as ISIL and Nigeria's
Boko Haram automatically assume the authority to declare anybody to
be kafir, or apostate. The spokesperson added that such a doctrine
clarified why ISIL militants, in addition to persecuting non-Muslim
groups, were also committing atrocities against fellow Muslims and
destroying mosques and shrines - a tactic, he said, which the militants
used simply to increase their power through fear and intimidation.
The concept of Takfir was originally brought to the fore by UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who, Mr.
Colville said, is working to draw attention to this "very explicit
belief that was not subscribed to by the vast majority of Muslims."
At the same time, yesterday's OHCHR paper also cites a number of
violations committed by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and associated
forces battling ISIL.
Mr. Colville similarly explained that both Government and
anti-Government armed groups in Syria were perpetrating the
destruction of the country's holy sites as well as numerous heritage
and archaeological sites.
"Anti-Government groups' attacks on religious personnel and buildings
have also increased this year," he noted, adding that Government
forces also shared responsibility for the increased destruction as
they "they continue to place military objectives around cultural
sites and turn them into military bases."
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48995#.VC78V8YcTIU
UN News Centre
Oct 3 2014
3 October 2014 - The United Nations human rights office today expressed
concern about the continuing wave of destruction unleashed by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) amid reports that the
terrorist group has targeted and destroyed a number of religious
buildings in areas under its control.
According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), ISIL militants destroyed an important Armenian church in the
Syrian city of Deir Al-Zor in mid-September as part of an ongoing
campaign of violence and terror which has seen the group also blow
up mosques, shrines and damage churches in northern Iraq.
"We condemn the destruction of the church and of other religious
institutions," OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing
in Geneva.
"We stress that religious personnel and buildings dedicated to religion
enjoy specific protection under international humanitarian law and
must be respected and protected by all parties."
Mr. Colville also highlighted his agency's concern about the safety of
three clergymen suspected to have been captured by the militant group.
Both the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo,
Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, were abducted in Aleppo in April
2013 while Paolo Dall'Oglio, a Catholic priest, went missing in Ar
Raqqah city in January. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
In a report jointly produced by OHCHR and the UN Assistance Mission for
Iraq (UNAMI) and released yesterday, the UN describes a host of serious
violations of international humanitarian law and gross abuses of human
rights perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups, including
"attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure,
executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape
and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against
women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction
or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance,
wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental
freedoms."
At today's briefing, Mr. Colville pointed out that ISIL's
indiscriminate violence - targeting members of numerous religious
sects including Muslims from other Muslim sects - was a product of
the Takfiri belief system adopted by some extremely radical religious
groups. In applying the Takfir, groups such as ISIL and Nigeria's
Boko Haram automatically assume the authority to declare anybody to
be kafir, or apostate. The spokesperson added that such a doctrine
clarified why ISIL militants, in addition to persecuting non-Muslim
groups, were also committing atrocities against fellow Muslims and
destroying mosques and shrines - a tactic, he said, which the militants
used simply to increase their power through fear and intimidation.
The concept of Takfir was originally brought to the fore by UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who, Mr.
Colville said, is working to draw attention to this "very explicit
belief that was not subscribed to by the vast majority of Muslims."
At the same time, yesterday's OHCHR paper also cites a number of
violations committed by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and associated
forces battling ISIL.
Mr. Colville similarly explained that both Government and
anti-Government armed groups in Syria were perpetrating the
destruction of the country's holy sites as well as numerous heritage
and archaeological sites.
"Anti-Government groups' attacks on religious personnel and buildings
have also increased this year," he noted, adding that Government
forces also shared responsibility for the increased destruction as
they "they continue to place military objectives around cultural
sites and turn them into military bases."
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48995#.VC78V8YcTIU