UN mounts pressure on Syria regime

AFP/Geneva

Syrian ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui waits prior to the opening of an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council yesterday in Geneva

The UN Human Rights Council called on the Syrian regime yesterday to halt its brutal crackdown on anti-government protests which has already left 2,200 people dead. Opening the emergency session, UN rights chief Navi Pillay told the council: “The gravity of ongoing violations and the brutal attacks against the peaceful protesters in that country demand your continued attention.” “As of today, over 2,200 people have been killed since mass protests began in mid-March, with more than 350 people reportedly killed across Syria since the beginning of Ramadan,” added Pillay. The UN had previously estimated a death toll of 2,000. The emergency session comes after UN investigators concluded that widespread and systematic rights violations have been committed by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime since peaceful demonstrations began in mid-March. While blocked from accessing the country, the UN mission found corroborating accounts of violations such as a “shoot-to-kill” policy, summary executions and even torture of children. Called by 24 members of the council, including Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the meeting which goes on until today will decide whether to adopt a draft resolution that “deplores the continued indiscriminate attacks on its population” and seeks an immediate stop to “all acts of violence”. The resolution also highlights the need to “urgently dispatch an independent international commission of inquiry... to investigate violations of international human rights law in Syria since July 2011”. Investigators would be asked “to establish the facts and circumstances which may amount to such violations and where possible, to identify those responsible, with a view of ensuring that perpetrators of violations are held accountable”. US ambassador Eileen Donahoe called on the council to “take firmer actions to halt the ongoing crackdown against the Syrian people”. “It is clear that President Assad believes that he can silence the voices of his people by resorting to the repressive tactics of the past. But he is wrong. It is time for the Syrian people to determine their own destiny, and we will continue to stand firmly on their side,” she stressed. But the allegations were angrily rejected by Syria’s ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, who described them as “mere lies”. “Syria has been subjected to and continues to be subjected to an unprecedented misleading campaign carried by a number of countries in order to weaken Syria and to change its political position,” said the diplomat. He also slammed the draft resolution, saying that “the language used is ... hateful”. “The resolution will only cause the crisis to lengthen and will only cause more instability. On this basis, we call on the council not to support the draft resolution, to maintain peace and security in Syria,” said the ambassador. Yesterday’s meeting marks the second of its kind on Syria. A previous session in April ordered a mission to investigate claims of violations but Assad’s regime has so far defied calls to allow investigators in. Hamoui said the UN investigators will be allowed in only after the “independent Syrian judicial commission has completed its work”. UN chief Ban Ki-moon piled up the pressure yesterday saying that Assad had failed to keep promises, including one he made during a telephone conversation last week to halt the military crackdown. “It is troubling that he has not kept his word,” Ban told reporters. “Many world leaders have been speaking to him to halt immediately military operations, killing his own people. He should do that.” Assad on Sunday night rejected calls by US President Barack Obama and other world leaders to step down even as the regime of another autocratic Arab ruler, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was crumbling. There was more bloodshed yesterday as five people were killed, including three shot dead by security forces who opened fire on protesters at a rally in Homs as a UN fact-finding team visited the central Syrian city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights which reported the killings said several people were also wounded in Homs. The crowds took to the streets when they heard the UN mission was in town, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said by telephone, apparently to make their voices heard. “Three people were killed and several wounded when some shabiha (pro-regime militiamen) and members of the security forces opened fire,” he said. Before dawn yesterday, two other people were killed in Hama, also central Syria. The mission, which arrived on Saturday for a five-day visit, began its work the next day in Damascus to assess humanitarian needs, officials said, and while the team was in the suburb of Douma protesters rallied against Assad. Despite global pressure mounting against his regime, Assad told state television late Sunday he would not heed global demands to quit power. “While withholding comment, we tell them that their words are worthless,” Assad said.