Britain pushes initiative to gather evidence of Syrian crimes

“On top of this, we must end any illusion the regime has that it can act with impunity in Syria. There is no doubt that mass murder is being committed. Some 6,000 people have already been sacrificed to the regime's brutal determination to cling to power. Those carrying out these crimes may well think that they will get away with it.

However that is what Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the architects of the blood-soaked siege of Sarajevo, probably thought; or Slobodan Milosevic when he presided over ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and Bosnia; or Charles Taylor when he committed his crimes in Sierra Leone. They were wrong: all have gone on ultimately to face international justice.

Those ordering the siege of Homs, the shelling of Idlib and the torture of Syrian children need to be put on notice that their crimes will come to light, and that they should stop these actions now.

Part of this must be to record the testimony and evidence of those who are fleeing Syria or suffering on the ground.

We will be sending British experts to the region in the coming days and weeks to help gather evidence and document human rights violations, working with NGOs already carrying out such work. We must help ensure that atrocities in Syria are documented to an international evidential standard suitable for local and international courts.

In conflicts of the past there was no systematic collection of evidence against those who committed heinous crimes. This has made prosecutions harder to mount, and longer and more costly when they take place. Often witnesses are required to testify many years after the event. Our work will be designed to support that process now.

The world must send a clear message to the Syrian regime that those who commit atrocities will be held to account, and those taking part in them now should urgently reconsider their actions.

There is a chance of saving Homs and its people from the fate endured by cities like Sarajevo in the 1990s.”