GENEVA - The UN said on Tuesday that it would soon deploy human rights monitors in countries bordering Syria to collect eyewitness testimony on “atrocities” committed in the country.
Independent UN investigators led by Paulo Pinheiro said last month that Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity including murder and torture on orders from the “highest level” of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
“We will be sending monitors for information collection and documentation of atrocities in bordering areas of neighbouring countries later this week,” Kyung-wha Kang, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights told the Human Rights Council.
Kang said the UN Security Council had to consider referring Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation.
“The situation deserves Security Council action, the point of it being consideration of referral to the ICC,” she said, reiterating a call by UN rights boss Navi Pillay.
She gave no details about the UN monitoring operation. Syria's neighbours include Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.
About 30 000 Syrians have now fled to neighbouring countries and at least 200 000 may be uprooted within the country due to the fighting, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Pinheiro's three-member panel has given an envelope containing its confidential list of those suspected of crimes against humanity to Pillay's office.
“The confidential list handed over is now within her safekeeping along with a list a (previous) fact-finding mission had also produced,” Kang said.
Pinheiro called for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire by both sides in the year-long uprising against Assad, and support for mediation efforts by joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Annan said he was expecting a response on Tuesday to concrete proposals he made to end violence during weekend talks with Assad.
“There is no magic solution...We need a patient mediation process to finish with this crisis,” Pinheiro said on Tuesday.
China's ambassador Liu Zhenmin called on the Syrian government and opposition to put an “immediate unconditional end to acts of violence, especially against civilians”.
Iran's envoy Sayed Mohammad Reza Sajjad, whose country is Syria's ally, said it was the government's responsibility to investigate and prosecute suspects and its national commission should be given “time and space” to reach its conclusions.
But Western powers including the US and European Union (EU), kept up their pressure on the regime.
“In Syria, we condemn the slaughter, torture, kidnapping and detention of peaceful protesters and journalists and other civilians including women and children by Syrian forces,” Charles Blaha, US political counsellor, told the Geneva talks.
“Regime brutality has created mass casualties and widespread suffering, and it has forced tens of thousands of Syrians to flee their homes, resulting in a humanitarian crisis that is spilling across its borders.”
Amnesty International said that it had the names of more than 6 500 people killed in the past year – somewhat less than the UN's latest toll of 7 500.
“We are certain that many have been shot by security forces while participating in peaceful protests or attending funerals of people killed in earlier protests or during the bombardment of residential areas,” Amnesty's Peter Splinter told the talks.
“We have received reports of over 270 persons who have died in custody in highly suspicious circumstances.” – Reuters