The United Nations is unlikely to find impartial sources of information to investigate the airstrikes in Syria's Idlib province, which is why the recently ordered UN probe will likely be incomplete form the very beginning, Eva Bartlett, an independent Canadian journalist and activist, told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2019) The United Nations is unlikely to find impartial sources of information to investigate the airstrikes in Syria's Idlib province, which is why the recently ordered UN probe will likely be incomplete form the very beginning, Eva Bartlett, an independent Canadian journalist and activist, told Sputnik in an interview.
On August 1, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the internal Headquarters Board of Inquiry would investigate a series of incidents in which UN-supported facilities in a dozen locations in northwest Syria have been destroyed or damaged since late April. The probe was launched after two-thirds of the UN Security Council expressed concern over the lack of inquiry.
"If they are talking about the Idlib airstrikes, who will be their sources of information? Is it going to be an honest and neutral source? Because often ... when they quote sources, it is quite easy to find out the sources' affiliation to terrorist organizations. So, how are they going to get neutral [sources]?" Bartlett said, commenting on the UN initiative.
According to the journalist, this lack of unbiased sources would mean that "from the very start the investigation will be flawed" because the UN investigators will be incapable of finding "objective and neutral information."
She also commented on Moscow's claims regarding the need to investigate the US-led coalition's airstrikes in Syria and punish those responsible for civilian casualties. In her opinion, while those guilty must be punished, she doubted this would happen.
According to Bartlett, the United Nations is being used by Western powers as an instrument to promote their agenda and intervene in other countries' affairs. The creation of such a board of inquiry is a true example of the West's "hypocrisy and double standards," she said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the UN probe as provocative in nature, saying that it was promoted by countries that were hostile toward the Syrian government and Moscow's joint counterterrorism efforts with Damascus.
