Resorting to the International Court of Justice to Hold the Syrian Government Accountable for Violating Its Obligations Unde

This paper examines the joint decision of Canada and the Netherlands to invoke the responsibility of the Syrian government for breaches of its international obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). It argues that the decision is a momentous step for at least three reasons. First, it keeps the pressure on the Syrian government and reminds it that its egregious human rights violations are not forgotten. Second, it may spur or compel the Syrian government to take the necessary measures, such as adopting constitutional and legislative reforms consistent with its obligations under the CAT and to hold accountable perpetrators of acts of torture as stipulated in the relevant provisions of the CAT. Third, the Canada and the Netherland process is veto-proof, i.e., not subject to veto by the Syrian government's allays holding veto power and therefore has the chance to do more to open the regime's human rights record in the ten decade-long civil war to external scrutiny.

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This paper examines the joint decision of Canada and the Netherlands to invoke the responsibility of the Syrian government for breaches of its international obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Inhuman, Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). It argues that the decision is a momentous step for at least three reasons. First, it keeps the pressure on the Syrian government and reminds it that its egregious human rights violations are not forgotten. Second, it may spur or compel the Syrian government to take the necessary measures, such as adopting constitutional and legislative reforms consistent with its obligations under the CAT and to hold accountable perpetrators of acts of torture as stipulated in the relevant provisions of the CAT. Third, the Canada and the Netherland process is veto-proof, i.e., not subject to veto by the Syrian government's allays holding veto power and therefore has the chance to do more to open the regime's human rights record in the ten decade-long civil war to external scrutiny.

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