The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army is a repetition of what happened in Syria, with a particular feature being the "proliferation of war crimes" in the month-plus that the armed conflict has lasted, says Amnesty International, which is releasing its annual report (2021-2022) in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
"What is happening in Ukraine is a repeat of what we saw in Syria," the NGO's secretary general, Anies Kalamar, told Agence France-Presse. There are "deliberate attacks against civilian infrastructure, homes", bombing of schools, she complained, and accused Russia of allowing humanitarian corridors to be organised, but then turning them into "death traps".
"Our investigators who were on the ground for ten days documented the use of tactics identical to those used in Syria and Chechnya", such as attacks on civilians, or the use of weapons prohibited by international law, Marie Struthers, director of Amnesty's branch responsible for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said during a parallel press conference in Paris. Addressing some twenty African governments which in early March, when a draft UN General Assembly resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian troops was put to a vote, chose to abstain, the NGO argues that in the face of Russia's actions, there is no such thing as "neutrality."
Source: CNA
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