Russia accused of Syria hospital strike in UN complaint

The Kafranbel Specialist Hospital was reportedly bombed four times on 5 May 2019

A complaint has been filed against Russia at the UN, accusing the Russian air force of deliberately attacking a hospital in opposition-held northern Syria five years ago.

It is being brought by a Syrian man, backed by human rights groups, whose relatives were killed in the attack.

Russia launched an air campaign in support of Syria's government in 2015 that helped turn the tide of civil war.

It has repeatedly denied that Russian forces have deliberately targeted hospitals.

The UN’s own investigation into the conflict has documented widespread possible war crimes, including indiscriminate bombing by Russian and Syrian forces.

But so far, apart from a handful of cases in Europe against Syrian asylum seekers alleged to be former members of the Syrian military or its intelligence services, there has been little accountability.

The particular case brought at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva relates to the bombing of Kafranbel Surgical Hospital in Idlib province on 5 May 2019.

A little-known clause in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - to which Russia is a party - allows individual citizens to bring cases.

Detailed evidence presented to the UN committee suggests the hospital, which was busy that day, was bombed four times in the space of 20 minutes.

During this time flight spotters in the area, the evidence claims, saw a Russian fighter jet taking off from Russia’s Hmeimim airbase, 60km (37 miles) to the west.

The evidence also includes an alleged audio recording of the pilot’s communication with Russian ground control, confirming targets had been successfully hit. The times of the communications match those of the strikes captured on video by people on the ground in Kafranbel.

Two brothers at the hospital, the cousins of the Syrian man who has brought the case to the UN, were killed.

The deliberate targeting of a medical facility is, under international law, a war crime. Human rights experts say such attacked have regularly occurred during the Syrian civil war and other conflicts.

Three other Syrian hospitals were reportedly hit by Russian planes on the same day in May 2019.

Health facilities have also come under in Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, the organisation backing the complaint, believes it is significant because, it says, “it is the first time Russia is held to account… over violations committed in Syria”.

But the UN Human Rights Committee, although it can hear cases like this one brought by individuals, cannot prosecute. That is the job of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Neither Russia nor Syria are parties to the ICC. Though the UN Security Council, the only body which can refer them to the court, has repeatedly been asked to act, Russia has vetoed attempts to prosecute violations in Syria.

What the committee’s 18 members elected by UN member states can do is issue a decision on whether the attack on Kafranbel hospital was a violation of international law.

It can also issue Russia with recommendations on how to ensure accountability, including launching a criminal investigation, or paying compensation to victims.

Human rights groups point out that in many cases of war crimes or crimes against humanity, the perpetrators are never brought before a formal court. But they say recognition, by a body like the UN committee, that violations have taken place, is at least some measure of justice.

And if this complaint is upheld it could, rights groups argue, serve as a form of deterrence for future attacks on medical facilities.