At the initiative of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, a meeting was convened at the UN headquarters in New York to highlight war crimes, accountability and justice in Syria.  
Qatar had called for convening the meeting under the title “Syria: War Crimes and the Pursuit of Justice” in partnership with Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Liechtenstein.   
Opening the meeting, held on Thursday, HE Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sheikha Alia Ahmed bint Seif al-Thani said that nearly half a million people have been killed and 2mn people have been injured in Syria since 2011. 
There are thousands of Syrian civilians living under siege, many of them facing hunger and death. Tens of thousands have been kidnapped or have disappeared at the hands of the Syrian regime forces, many of them women and children who were tortured to death in appalling conditions in detention centres, Sheikha Alia added. 
She stressed that peace, justice and accountability are interlinked with each other, pointing out that history has shown that permanent and comprehensive peace cannot be realised without justice.


Qatar calls for differentiating  between terrorism and resistance

Qatar has stressed the importance of differentiating between terrorism and resistance. 
Qatar has also called for respecting international laws and human rights in combating terrorism, and stressed the importance of respecting all religions and promoting the values of forgiveness.   
This came in a statement read by Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bint Seif al-Thani in a meeting held by the UN Security Council in New York to discuss threats to international peace and security resulting from terrorist attacks.  
Sheikha Alia said that the Security Council’s meeting comes at a time of continued challenges and terrorist attacks that face the global community. She added that recent events showed that terrorism has no home or religion. 
Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the UN said that the terrorism threat the world faces today grew out of an environment where the aspirations of people were met with violence. This environment gave terrorist groups the opportunity to claim defending the rights of the people. As a result, the representative added, the international community must work on meeting the aspirations of those people and establish social justice.  
Sheikha Alia highlighted Qatar’s position that condemns terrorism regardless of its causes and motivations. She added that terrorism can be ended only by tackling the political, economic and social roots of the matter.  
Sheikha Alia also emphasised Qatar’s commitment to co-operating with the international community to counter the threat of terrorism. Qatar will also work within the regional and international mechanisms to dispose the reasons behind terrorism, which is the vision of HH the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. In the context of that vision, the ambassador added, the State of Qatar enhanced its national legislation pertaining to counterterrorism.