"We already have millions of pages and gigabytes of evidence," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told a conference gathering more than 150 experts, diplomats, rights activists and international lawyers.
"And millions more are waiting -- hidden in suitcases and banana crates, buried in caves and pits," he said, voicing the hope that "we can use that evidence to build airtight cases against those guilty of the worst crimes imaginable."
The U.N. General Assembly agreed in December to set up an investigative mechanism to gather evidence on war crimes in Syria, where the civil war between
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
's regime and rebels fighting to oust him has raged for six years.
It would be the first step towards trying to prosecute those responsible for atrocities in the war which has left more than 310,000 dead and forced millions to flee as refugees.
The Netherlands, which already hosts top international courts dealing with the world's worst crimes, has offered expertise and a million euros to help get the database up and running.
"After six years of conflict in Syria, the evidence of war crimes, human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
violations and crimes against humanity is overwhelming," Koenders said before the experts met behind closed doors.
"Syrians are taking enormous risks to bring the truth to light," he added, recalling how one military police officer fled the country with flash drives hidden in his socks containing over 28,000 photos of deaths allegedly in government custody.
Another former civil servant escaped with 1,000 pages taped to his body, allegedly containing top-level orders to use indiscriminate violence.
Grassroots Sherlocks smuggled what they said was "proof of war crimes" through a dozen checkpoints hidden in banana crates.