[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein [official profile] called Tuesday for measures to release detainees in Syria in his address [text] to the UN Human Rights Council [official website]. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic also released [press release] a report Tuesday finding that civilians are still suffering severe abuses from all parties to the Syrian conflict. The report is based on 326 interviews conducted from July 2016 to through February 2017. Both Zeid and the commission called for the injustices to end and for those guilty of the war crimes and torture to be brought to justice.

The Syria civil war [JURIST backgrounder] continues to have a devastating impact. In February UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura claimed [JURIST report] bombings and air strikes in Syria were committed deliberately to disrupt peace talks between both sides in Geneva. In January Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland condemned [JURIST report] the interruption of water that has left millions of Syrians without clean access to water. Earlier in January Syrian warplanes resumed bombardment [JURIST report] in spite of a ceasefire agreement reached just days before.