War crimes expert quits UN Syria inquiry

A former war crimes prosecutor is resigning from a UN commission investigating human rights abuses in Syria because it "does absolutely nothing".

Speaking at the Locarno film festival, Carla del Ponte said had prepared her letter of resignation and that she would "send it in the next few days", reports Swiss newspaper Blick.

She added: "I cannot remain on this commission that does absolutely nothing."

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Del Ponte also said there was no "good or bad" in the country anymore. "Everyone in Syria is on the bad side," she said. "The Assad government has perpetrated horrible crimes against humanity and used chemical weapons and the opposition is now made up of extremists and terrorists."

"The commission was set up in August 2011 and has regularly reported on human rights violations, but its pleas to observe international law have largely fallen on deaf ears," The Guardian reports.

Del Ponte, a Swiss lawyer, has been involved since September 2012, "chronicling incidents such as chemical weapons attacks, genocide against Iraq's Yazidi population, siege tactics and the bombing of aid convoys", says Deutsche Welle.

The commission has "released about a dozen reports", says the BBC, "but investigators have never gained access to Syria itself, instead relying on interviews, photos, medical records and other documents".

According to Euronews, "there is no sign of any court being established to try war crimes committed in the six-and-a-half year-old war, nor of any intention by the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court in the Hague".

Del Ponte's resignation leaves two commissioners on the panel, Karen Koning AbuZayd from the US and Brazil's Paulo Pinheiro.