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States responsible for violations of IHL are required to make full reparation for the loss or injury caused.
175
In
addition, the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross
Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law
enshrine the duty of states to provide effective remedies, including reparation to victims. This instrument sets
0ut the appropriate form of reparation, including, in principles 19-23, restitution, compensation,
rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.
176
175
ICRC, Customary IHL, Rule 150.
176
Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights
Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law (Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation), adopted and
proclaimed by UN General Assembly Resolution 60/147 of 16 December 2005, UN Doc. A/RES/60/147.
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9.
CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
Coalition claims that its precision air campaign allowed it to bomb IS out of Raqqa while causing very few
civilian casualties do not stand up to scrutiny. Based on information from Amnesty International’s field
investigation and public reporting, Coalition air and artillery strikes killed hundreds of civilians and injured
many more. The Coalition strikes detailed in this report appear either disproportionate or indiscriminate or
both and as such unlawful and potential war crimes. The cases documented here, provide an example of a
wider pattern, raise serious concerns and should be thoroughly and independently investigated. Mistakes
must be acknowledged, causes analysed and lessons learned.
This report acknowledges that IS tactics created a challenging operational environment for Coalition forces
and the SDF. However, such challenges did not justify failing to take all feasible precautions to minimise
harm to civilians. States bearing responsibility for violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) have a
duty to investigate and provide redress. Where evidence of war crimes exists, states are also obliged to
prosecute.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO MEMBER STATES OF THE US-LED COALITION
Amnesty International calls on member states of the US-led Coalition to take the following measures as a
matter of urgency:
-
Fully comply with the rules of IHL in the planning and execution of air strikes and other attacks,
including by cancelling attacks that risk being indiscriminate, disproportionate or otherwise
unlawful;
-
End the use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects, such as artillery and mortars, in the
vicinity of populated civilian areas, consistent with the prohibition on indiscriminate and
disproportionate attacks;
-
Assume the presence of civilians in every structure when engaging IS fighters, given the likelihood
of IS using civilians as human shields and adjust tactics to take civilian presence into account;
-
Take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians, including giving effective advance
warnings of impending attacks to the civilian population in the concerned areas, including, when
possible, by providing advice to civilians on possible evacuation routes;
-
Ensure that SDF forces comply with IHL, including by refraining from the use of mortars in the
vicinity of civilian areas, and refraining from looting civilian property;
-
Ensure that concrete plans for evacuation and humanitarian assistance to civilians are put in place
and budgeted for sufficiently early in the planning of military operations, so that adequate food,
water, shelter and medical care can be promptly provided to civilians displaced by such military
operations.
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INVESTIGATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
-
Publicly acknowledge the scale and gravity of the loss of civilian lives and destruction of property
and livelihoods which resulted from Coalition strikes during the military operation to oust IS from
Raqqa;
-
Make public information which is necessary to investigate the circumstances of and establishing
responsibility for civilian losses during the military operation, notably:
•
Dates, times, exact location, weapons used and intended target of the strikes carried out
by Coalition forces
•
Which Coalition members’ forces carried out which strike
•
What measures were taken to ascertain how many civilians were present in the vicinity of
the target and the precautions taken to minimise harm to civilian and civilian objects;
-
Make public the findings of any investigation carried out so far to determine the scale of the human
and material civilian loss, that is the number of civilians killed and injured and civilian property and
infrastructure destroyed or damaged as a result of Coalition strikes;
-
Make public the methodology of any investigation carried out into Coalition strikes, or attributed to
Coalition forces, which reportedly killed or injured civilians, notably:
•
Whether any post-strike site visits and interviews with survivors, witnesses, and families of
victims were carried out, and if so for which cases;
-
Publicly disclose the findings of all investigations into civilian casualties or destruction and damage
to civilian objects from Coalition strikes, including whether any attacks were found to violate IHL,
whether reparation or compensation of any type was provided to the victims, and whether those
suspected of responsibility for violation were held accountable;
-
Urgently put in place an independent, impartial mechanism to effectively and promptly investigate
credible reports of violations of IHL make the findings of such investigations public;
-
Urgently commit to an urgent review of military procedures for assessing civilian casualties aimed
at identifying procedural defects and rectifying them. It must make findings public in a timely and
transparent manner.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPARATION
-
Put in place the necessary mechanism to provide prompt and full reparation to victims and families
of victims of violations, including compensation, restitution, rehabilitation, satisfaction and
guarantees of non-repetition. The mechanism should be transparent, accessible to civilians in
Syria, and ensure that reparation of is provided in a non-discriminatory manner;
-
Allocate and provide adequate budgetary resources and ensure that all legislative and regulatory
measures are in place to provide reparation to victims;
-
Where there is admissible evidence that individual members of Coalition forces are responsible for
war crimes, ensure they are prosecuted in a fair trial without recourse to the death penalty;
-
Put in place a mechanism to ensure that lessons are learned and that strikes in ongoing Coalition
military operations in Syria are carried out in full compliance with the rules of IHL.
HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE AND CLEARANCE OF UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE (UXO)
-
Ensure that security, shelter and services to those displaced by the conflict in Raqqa is provided
until such a time when they can safely and voluntarily return to their homes and support
themselves;
-
Ensure that these services are of the highest possible quality and they are provided based on needs
and in a non-discriminatory manner, and ensure that the displaced are not arbitrarily prevented
from returning to Raqqa;
-
Ensure that the necessary resources, equipment and expertise are available to complete in the
shortest time possible the clearance of (UXO) and IEDs in Raqqa. In the meantime, support the
provision of awareness-raising programmes to educate residents about the dangers posed by UXO
and IEDs;
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-
Provide the necessary funding for humanitarian assistance to enable civilians to return to Raqqa
and set up a mechanism in consultation with the returning community to ensure that programmes
are tailored to fit requirements on the ground and that assistance is provided in a non-
discriminatory manner;
-
Current donors should immediately review their assistance programmes in Raqqa to ensure that
they are meeting the most immediate needs of the returning community. Such a review should be
done in consultation with a cross-section of stakeholders in the community, and should ensure the
participation of women;
-
Ensure that funding plans for humanitarian assistance and UXO clearance in Raqqa are in place to
provide the long-term support needed.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE SYRIAN DEMOCRATIC FORCES
Amnesty International calls on the SDF to:
INVESTIGATION AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE
-
Make public information which is necessary to investigate the circumstances of and establishing
responsibility for civilian losses during the military operation, notably disclose full details of all co-
ordinates provided to Coalition forces for air and artillery strikes including the intended targets for
those strikes;
-
Ensure that Raqqa residents can register complaints against SDF members with SDF authorities for
conduct carried out during and post the Raqqa military operation without fear of reprisals or
retaliation;
-
Ensure that all allegations lodged against SDF personnel are investigated thoroughly and
independently, remove from the ranks all persons who committed or ordered violations of IHL, and
ensure those responsible for crimes are held accountable.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE RAQQA CIVIL COUNCIL
International calls on the RCC to:
ACCOUNTABILITY AND REPARATION
-
Establish offices in and around Raqqa where residents can register their losses and any complaints
about incidents which occurred during and since the military campaign. The offices must be
adequately staffed and easily accessible to residents and to those who are still displaced;
-
Co-operate with Coalition members to ensure that reparation/compensation is allocated to civilians
with appropriate oversight in place in order to protect the integrity of the process.
CONTACT US
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
info@amnesty.org
+44 (0)20 7413 5500
www.facebook.com/AmnestyGlobal
@Amnesty
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
IS A GLOBAL MOVEMENT
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
WHEN INJUSTICE HAPPENS
TO ONE PERSON, IT
MATTERS TO US ALL.
INDEX: MDE 24/8367/2018
JUNE 2018
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
amnesty.org
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The four-month military operation carried out by the US-led Coalition to oust
the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) from the Syrian city of Raqqa,
killed hundreds of civilians, injured many more and destroyed much of the
city. Residents were trapped, as fighting raged in Raqqa’s streets between IS
militants and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters, and US-
led Coalition’s air and artillery strikes rocked the city. With escape routes
mined by IS and the group’s snipers shooting at those trying to flee, there
was nowhere safe for civilians. Entire families were killed in Coalition air
strikes in their homes or in the very places where they had sought refuge, or
as they tried to flee. Eight months on, the Coalition remains in denial about
the human tragedy resulting from its military campaign and the victims have
received neither justice nor reparation. Amnesty International is urging
Coalition members to promptly and impartially investigate allegations of
international law violations and civilian casualties. They must provide
reparation to the victims and adequate assistance for the desperately needed
demining and reconstruction work.
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