Syria to Give Red Cross Access to Detention Facilities

The Syrian regime has agreed to provide access to detention facilities throughout the country, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday.

Jakob Kellenberger, who concluded a two-day visit to Damascus on Wednesday, said in a statement that Syrian authorities had agreed on procedures for visits to places of detention.

"The agreement will be put into practice with an ICRC visit to people held in Aleppo Central Prison," the statement said, without specifying a date.

It said that in Kellenberger's discussions with Syrian officials, notably Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, it was agreed the ICRC would have an expanded presence in the strife-torn country.

"This means that we will have to rapidly build up our human resources and logistical capacity in Syria," said Kellenberger.

"This agreement is a sign of trust in the ICRC's independent and neutral humanitarian action," he added. "It should enable the ICRC and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to meet increased humanitarian needs."

The statement said a procedure on how to trigger the humanitarian pause requested by the ICRC for areas affected by fighting was also agreed with Muallem.

The ICRC has been pushing for a daily humanitarian truce in the conflict, which began in March 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad and has since claimed more than 9,000 lives, according to the United Nations.

The humanitarian ceasefire is included in a six-point peace plan drawn up by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that is aimed at ending the hostilities.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it was essential the ICRC be given access to detention facilities run by the intelligence services.

"These facilities are where political detainees are held, whereas prisons for the most part house common criminals," Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse.

He said there are currently between 25,000 and 30,000 people held by the intelligence services in relation to the uprising to topple Assad's regime.

Overall, some 100,000 people have been detained and released since the start of the revolt in March of last year, he added.