Syria, conflict

According to some reports, Libya had decided in principle to join the CWC as early as 2001. It is also noteworthy that Libya had maintained contact with the OPCW and followed its decision-making on implementation issues since the very beginning of the preparatory work in 1993, which is very different from some other Arab countries, such as Egypt or Syria, that approached the CWC primarily in the context of the conflict with Israel. 

They include the ancient city of Damascus, the ancient city of Bosra, the site of Palmyra, the ancient city of Aleppo, the castles of Krac des Chevaliers and Qal-at Salah El-Din, tmd about 40 ancient villages situated in north-western Syria. See http //whc.unesco.oig/en/list/21. See tilso Article 11(4), 1972 World Heritage Convention, which explicitly mentions the outbreak or threat of an armed conflict as a serious and specific danger for cultural heritage. 

Abstract 2014 was marked with several noteworthy events with particular relevance to international humanitarian law, such as the continuation of the conflict in Syria and the incidents related to the use of chemical weapons in that conflict several key decisions in international and hybrid courts related to the adjudication of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide the entry into force of the Arms Trade Treaty release of the US Report on Torture and a Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. This chapter addresses a number of these issues among other events of note. 

In December, at the initiative of the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the UN, in cooperation with the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, some 25 diplomats and experts assembled to discuss accountability options for Syria. They opined, inter alia, that the ICC remained the preferred option, while there was no expectation that it will succeed in the near future and that national trials would be the best way to ensure accountability. They also proposed the setting up of a hybrid court, which could involve international, Arab judges, prosecutors, and lawyers alongside Syrians. At the time of publication, the conflict was still ongoing. 

Tables 45.1 and 45.2 do not show the dynamics of the displacement which has taken place in the region over time, or how individuals and families have responded to the conflict situations which have prompted displacement both inside their respective countries and into the neighbouring MENA countries. Iraqis, for example, constituted the largest group of newly displaced people in the second half of the 2010s. As of September 2007, there were estimated to be over 4.4 million displaced Iraqis around the world, including some 2.2 million internally displaced in Iraq and a similar number in neighbouring countries Jordan and Syria received the largest numbers, an estimated 450,000-500,000 and 800,000 respectively (Eafo 2007), while some 200,000 are hosted further afield (UNHCR 2007).

The recent use of sarin on August 21,2013, during the Syrian conflict was confirmed by the UN Mission, and it shows that nerve agents are still a real threat. Despite the limitations the UN Mission found while investigating the use of CWs in Syria, hopefully some interesting conclusions for the medical community will eventually emerge (Pita and Domingo, 2014). 

The most recent documented use of OP nerve agents was in August 2013, in the Ghouta area of Damascus, Syria. Sarin was employed via surface-to-surface rockets, with a considerable number of casualties. Although there are conflicting reports on the numbers, at least 3,600 people went to medical facilities with neurotoxic signs and symptoms, and 588 fatalities were recorded by the... 

The year 2014 was the centenary of the commencement of the 1914-18 war [World War I (WWI)], a conflict that resulted in more than 20 million deaths and unprecedented numbers of casualties. A notorious development of that conflict was the widespread use of chemical weapons, manufactured on an industrial scale. Since 1914 more than 700000 tonnes of chemical agents have been produced by various nations but, fortunately, since 1918 the use of chemical weapons in warfare has been the exception rather than the rule. Nevertheless, their use in conflicts in Iraq in the 1980s and more recently in Syria in 2013, particularly against unprotected civilian populations, has served as a reminder that the dangers still exist, even though a near comprehensive treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), entered into force in April 1997. This chapter provides the reader with a brief history of the development and use of chemical weapons, a summary of the physicochemical properties that determine the primary hazard posed by chemical agents and how... 

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