01.53
Antonio
Hicham Hassan, ICRC: "Tens of thousands are in need of medical care because they were wounded"
The United Nations Human Rights Council is holding an emergency session as the security and humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate.
Members will discuss a report by UN human rights investigators that names Syrian officials they believe are responsible for atrocities.
But China and Russia are expected to block calls for action against Syria.
Meanwhile Reuters reports that injured UK photographer Paul Conroy has been evacuated safely from Homs to Lebanon.
He was smuggled out of the besieged city into neighbouring Lebanon, the news agency reports, citing a diplomatic source.
Earlier, it was reported that Homs had again come under heavy bombardment, with the government sending in units of an elite armoured division into rebel-held districts to try to end the three-week-long offensive.
The Syrian Red Crescent said it was able to reach the worst-hit suburb, Baba Amr, on Monday, bringing out three Syrians, including a pregnant woman, her husband and an elderly female patient.
But the group said it failed to bring out Mr Conroy and another wounded Western journalist, Frenchwoman Edith Bouvier. They were injured in an attack last Wednesday that claimed the lives of American Sunday Times journalist Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik.
'Warning shot'Diplomats gathering in Geneva for Tuesday's meeting of the UNHCR have warned that those responsible for the violence in Syria will be brought to justice.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "The task of the council is to express the disgust of the entire world at the odious crimes that the Syrian state is committing against its people."
He urged the 47 nations in the council to be prepared to submit a complaint against Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
But British Foreign Secretary William Hague admitted Russia and China - who previously vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria - were a "major blockage" to any real progress, so a referral to the ICC is unlikely to be made imminently.
A UN panel of experts last week delivered a confidential list of Syrian army officers and government officials who could be investigated for crimes against humanity.
Their report found that Syria had become increasingly militarised, and they accused security forces of gross and systematic human rights violations.
"The day will come when the civilian and military authorities in Syria, in particular President Assad himself, will need to answer for their actions," Mr Juppe said.
The BBC's Jim Muir, who is watching events in Syria from Lebanon, said a threat of ICC referral sent a warning shot across the bows of the Syrian leadership that it may be held accountable by the international community for what is happening in the country.
And given what is happening in other Arab countries, it could have some small effect, our correspondent says. But the Syrian regime is fighting for survival and is not going to pay attention to paper statements from Geneva, New York or anywhere else, he adds.
The Syrian government appeared to step up its offensive over the rebels across the country on Monday - sending forces into several towns in northern Syria for the first time.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activists' group which organises and documents protests, said a total of 125 people died across Syria, many of them in a single incident at a checkpoint in Homs, on Monday.
It is difficult to independently verify the death tolls and individual incidents as media access across the country is tightly restricted.
28 Feb, 2012
-
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-middle-east-17188791
--
Manage subscription | Powered by rssforward.com
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar