UN rights council finally condemns Syria

More than six weeks after the start of a brutal government crackdown on peaceful protests in Syria, the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday issued the UN's first condemnation of the violence.

The U.S.-led proposal passed mainly with support from western European, African and Latin American countries on the 47-member council in Geneva - but only after Washington agreed to water down the measure.

Russia and China actively campaigned against the resolution, while Arab states on the council either abstained from the vote, or were absent - "probably not by accident," noted the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch.

Back-room negotiations led to the deletion of a paragraph that would have pointed out the irony of Syria's current candidacy to join the Human Rights Council on June 20 for a three-year term even as it uses lethal force against its own people.

As it stands, Syria is running unopposed for one of the four upcoming seats reserved for Asian countries on the council.

The resolution authorizes an independent investigation into the killings and other alleged crimes. But the United States agreed to drop its initial call for the council president to appoint a commission of inquiry, accepting instead a "lesser mission" under the UN bureaucracy, UN Watch reported in a statement.

Human rights organizations say 500 people have died since demonstrations began in March, although the number has not been independently verified.

The United States also acted unilaterally Friday as President Barack Obama ordered an asset freeze and other sanctions against three Syrian officials, including the brother and a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The order provides the U.S. with "new tools to target individuals and entities determined to have engaged in human rights abuses in Syria," said a White House statement.

Canada does not now sit on the Human Rights Council, but expressed support for the council's resolution as an observer.

The measure, which "unequivocally condemns" Syria for killings and arrests of protesters since the latest unrest began in mid-March, passed by 26 votes to nine, with seven abstentions.

The difficulty the United States and its allies have had in mustering support at the UN over Syria illustrates the sharp slide in the willingness of many countries beyond the West to extend international intervention in the region.

Only weeks ago, Russia and China abstained from a Security Council vote to permit a resolution that approved the launch of military air strikes in Libya.


(2011-4-30/montrealgazette)