[Debate] UN rights chief asks council to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court after Obama urges Assad to step down

[Riaz K Tayob]

[Rights are important... pity that global justice is metered out with 
"analysis" with nary a concern for it to be seen to be done... 
parochial/selective interpretations of rights will not endear people to 
the UN... Action needs to be taken, but even handedness is required, 
including in other areas of the Middle East... ]

UN Security Council urged to act on Syria
UN rights chief asks council to refer Syria to the International 
Criminal Court after Obama urges Assad to step down.
Last Modified: 18 Aug 2011 23:21



The UN human rights chief has asked the Security Council to refer Syria 
to the International Criminal Court for the investigation of alleged 
atrocities against anti-government protesters.

Navi Pillay's remarks on Thursday came hours after the US President 
Barack Obama and the European Union explicityl called on Syrian 
President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Navi Pillay told reporters after the Council meeting in New York City 
that she recommended the referral because a UN fact-finding commission 
reported that its evidence supported a finding of "widespread and 
systematic violations'' of human rights and crimes against humanity.


However, she said she did not "hold out much hope'' for a court referral.

After the meeting, Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said the United 
States is waging a "diplomatic and humanitarian war" against Syria, 
along with some other UN Security Council members.

"All the wars and invasions that were taken on behalf of this Security 
Council were based on lies." Ja'afari told reporters.

"The Iraqi weapons of mass destruction opened the way for the Security 
Council to invade Iraq. It was a big lie, acknowledged by [former US 
Secretary of State] Colin Powell as we all know.

"So nothing happens but lies when it is related to the activities of 
these influential members of the Security Council who are using the 
Security Council as an instrument to justify their illegitimate actions."

But Syria will now apparently allow the United Nations to visit the 
country, which it did not permit Pillay's investigators to do.

Valerie Amos, chief of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian 
Affairs, said on Thursday that a mission from her office will visit over 
the weekend.

'Sustained onslaught'

Earlier on Thursday, Obama issued a written statement saying: "The 
future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar 
al-Assad is standing in their way ... For the sake of the Syrian people, 
the time has come for President Assad to step aside."

*Obama said the US "cannot and will not impose this transition upon 
Syria" but will support "an effort to bring about a Syria that is 
democratic, just, and inclusive for all Syrians. We will support this 
outcome by pressuring President Assad to get out of the way of this 
transition".*

Obama said Syrians "have spoken with their peaceful marches" and that 
the Syrian government "has responded with a sustained onslaught".

"I strongly condemn this brutality, including the disgraceful attacks on 
Syrian civilians in cities like Hama and Deir ez-Zor, and the arrests of 
opposition figures who have been denied justice and subjected to torture 
at the hands of the regime," the president's statement said.

Obama also announced a new round on US sanctions to target Syria's 
energy sector, banning US imports of Syrian petroleum and petroleum 
products and prohibiting Americans from dealing in such products.

Syria is not a main source of oil for the US, but if European allies 
join the effort, it could significantly affect one of the Syrian 
government's top sources of revenue.

Syrian crude oil exports go mostly to European countries such as 
Germany, Italy, and France, according to the US Energy Information Agency.

EU warning

Shortly after Obama issued his statement, the European Union also called 
for Assad to step down and warned of further sanctions.

"The EU notes the complete loss of Bashar al-Assad's legitimacy in the 
eyes of the Syrian people and the necessity for him to step aside," the 
EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said in a statement.

Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle East politics, comments on the 
mounting international pressure

The UN fact-finding commission said in a report released on Thursday 
that it had compiled evidence implicating 50 people at various levels of 
government who could be prosecuted over the Syrian crackdown.

The team, which was not allowed into Syria, interviewed victims and 
witnesses in the region from mid-March to mid-July.

Syrian forces had fired on peaceful protesters throughout the country, 
often at short range and without warning, killing at least 1,900 
civilians up to mid-July, including children, investigators said in the 
report.

Their wounds were "consistent with an apparent shoot-to-kill policy", it 
said.

Protesters took to the streets across Syria on Thursday night, including 
in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, Homs and several towns in Deraa 
governorate in the south.

Activists said the security forces continued its crackdown in several 
cities despite claims by the Assad government that military and police 
operations against protesters had stopped.

Shooting was reported in the central city of Homs and in the Damascus 
suburb of Dumeir.

Rights group Avaaz said there been fresh attacks on civilians in Latakia 
earlier in the day, with regime forces claiming to crack down on 
"terrorist gangs" in the Palestinian camp of al-Ramel.

The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC) said security forces backed by 
army were carrying out arrests in Deir ez-Zor.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said soldiers and 
members of the security forces took up positions in the town of Zabadani 
outside Damascus and in some of the capital's suburbs.

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