UNITED NATIONS: Large-scale atrocities are being committed both by state and non-state actors in Syria, contributing to a spill-over of violence that adversely affects international peace and stability, a UN-appointed panel has said in a new report.

In its report released on Wednesday, the independent International Commis­sion of Inquiry on Syria emphasised that with the continuous influx of foreign fighters and the success of extremist groups “risks of the conflict spreading further are palpable”.

The report, based on 480 interviews and a number of documents, chronicles the human cost of the Syrian conflict that began in March 2011.

The impact has been particularly grave for women and children, whose most basic rights are being violated each day, according to the report.

“The international community’s failure in its most elementary duties — to protect civilians, halt or prevent atrocities and create a path towards accountability — has been matched on the ground by an abandonment of even the pretence of an adherence to norms of international law,” said Paulo Pinheiro, the chairman of the commission.

“As can be seen today, this has grave implications for the entire region. Hundreds of civilians are dying each day as the fighting goes on with no regard to law or to conscience.”

“Women have been lashed for not abiding by the dress code decreed by the Islamic State (IS) group (formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham),” said the report.

In Ar-Raqqah, children as young as 10 are being recruited and trained at IS camps. The group has forcibly displaced Kurdish communities in northern Syria. Journalists and other media workers are being systematically targeted.

In Syrian areas under the control of IS, particularly in the north and north-east of the country, Fridays are marked by executions, amputations and lashings in public squares, according to the report.

The report said the Syrian government had also committed violations, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Between January and July, hundreds of men, women and children were killed every week by the government’s indiscriminate firing of missiles and barrel bombs into civilian-inhabited areas.

In some instances, there was clear evidence that civilian gatherings were deliberately targeted, added the report.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2014