Robert Petit, head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism Investigating Serious Crimes in Syria, at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, 17 December, 2024. (Keystone/Salvatore Di Nolfi)

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

SYRIA’S ‘CRIME SCENE’. The head of the International Independent and Impartial Mechanism for Syria on Tuesday voiced his team’s readiness to help Syrians obtain justice for the atrocities of the toppled Assad regime, an aspect that UN officials have insisted is crucial for the country’s political transition.

Robert Petit said he had written to the new authorities representatives in Geneva and New York with the hope of travelling to the country to scope out what he described as suddenly available “interlocking of crime scenes” and to help preserve crucial evidence. There have been reports of precious records, hard drives and other pieces of evidence being destroyed, according to the UN-backed investigator, even if he recognise an awareness from the authorities that this needed to be avoided.

Mass grave uncovered. A grave uncovered near Damascus may contain up to 100,000 bodies of people tortured and killed by the regime, a US-based Syrian advocacy group said yesterday. Mouaz Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Taskforce, told Reuters the mass grave was one of five that he had identified over the years. Echoing the UN’s concern for evidence to be preserved, Human Rights Watch called for the site to be “protected”.

UN in Damascus. Tom Fletcher, the freshly appointed UN relief coordinator, was the latest UN figure to meet with ​​the Syrian de-facto government’s commander and rebel leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, to discuss humanitarian aid.

Fletcher assured the UN Security Council by video call that the authorities have promised to allow unhindered access for humanitarian aid, “including across conflict lines and in the northeast”, and to expedite bureaucratic steps for visas and other paperwork requirements. The Islamist leadership also committed to letting women work.

Meanwhile, the UN envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, visited Damscus’s Sednaya prison, notorious for its torture chambers, “to pay homage to all the victims” of the regime. Although not everyone was welcoming – a woman searching for her relatives in the detention facility reportedly threw a shoe at the UN diplomat’s convoy, claiming the UN had taken too long to come.

Heading home. Around one million Syrians are expected to travel back home in the next six months, according to the UN Refugee Agency, as thousands are seen crossing from Lebanon and Turkey.

Patience. The desire of Syrians to return should not push countries to make hasty decisions, warned Rema Jamous Imseis, UNHCR director for the Middle East and North Africa. She cautioned it was “too early to tell” whether it is safe for people to return to a country ravaged by 14 years of conflict where over 90 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Jamous Imseis repeated a call to states and other actors “to respect the principle of non-refoulment” amid decisions to pause asylum applications in several European countries and pressure from right-wing parties to send Syrians back.

– By Michelle Langrand