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A/HRC/28/69 16 proliferated, many States have shown a willingness to investigate and prosecute their own citizens suspected of committing crimes in the Syrian conflict. 103. After monitoring national proceedings for more than three years, the Commission has determined that Syrian national courts are not, at this time, an effective mechanism through which to pursue justice. The Commission has yet to identify evidence that Syrian courts have either the will or capacity to fulfil international obligations to prosecute perpetrators of serious international crimes. 104. The Counter-terrorism Court, regular criminal courts, ad hoc military field courts and various local religious courts in areas controlled by the Government appear to operate in an arbitrary manner without fair trial guarantees. Similarly, religious courts operating in areas under the control of non-State armed groups, including ISIS and Jabhat Al-Nusra, fail to operate in a manner consistent with international standards, resulting in miscarriages of justice. 105. The Counter-terrorism Court and field military courts seem to rely almost exclusively on forced confessions and information acquired through torture to obtain convictions. As a result, the Commission is concerned that the Syrian criminal justice system currently violates international rights to due process and fair trial, exacerbating and compounding the suffering of victims of the armed conflict. D. Assistance to national prosecutions 106. To further promote accountability, the Commission has shared information – where the consent of the interviewee was obtained – with the justice systems of States willing to exercise their national jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Syrian Arab Republic. As foreign fighters return home from battlefields in the country, there has been an increase in requests from these States over the past six months. 107. Some States have also indicated a willingness to assert universal jurisdiction to pursue criminal investigations against suspected perpetrators, including foreign nationals, in the armed conflict. In the event that a State were to gain custody over such perpetrators and their national courts were to meet international fair trial standards, the Commission would be willing to share its information upon request. E. Additional measures in the search for justice 108. In its resolution 2178 (2014), the Security Council emphasized the need for States to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism. The Commission supports the call made by the Council in that resolution for States to consider a full range of measures to combat the root causes of extremism through education, public policy and engagement with communities at risk of recruitment. IV. Shared responsibility A. Failure to reach a political solution 109. Although a number of initiatives have been introduced to put an end to the four-year old conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, to date they have fallen short of achieving a political solution. Notable among those was the six-point peace plan presented by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on the Syrian Crisis