The UN rights body held an emergency meeting yesterday to press Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end a deadly crackdown on dissent, a day after he scoffed at Western calls to quit.
More than 2,200 people have died in the Syrian regime’s crackdown, UN rights chief Navi Pillay told the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that was expected to condemn the bloodshed.
“The gravity of on-going violations and the brutal attacks against the peaceful protesters in that country demand your continued attention,” she said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon also piled up the pressure yesterday saying that Mr 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,” Mr Ban told reporters. “Many world leaders have been speaking to him to halt immediately military operations, killing his own people. He should do that.”
Mr 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.
Despite global pressure mounting against his regime, Mr Assad told state TV late Sunday he would not heed global demands to quit power.
“While withholding comment, we tell them that their words are worthless,” Mr Assad said.
As he spoke Libyan rebels swept through large swathes of Tripoli, where two sons of strongman Muammar Gaddafi were arrested, while the veteran Libyan leader’s whereabouts remained a mystery.
Prominent Syrian opposition leader Fayez Sara said developments in Libya would have a “positive impact” on Syria but stressed that “the pulse of the street” was different in Damascus.
The Syrian opposition has vowed to bring down Mr Assad’s regime without foreign intervention.
The UN Human Rights Council met to consider a draft resolution deploring the “indiscriminate attacks” on Syrian demonstrators and seeking an end to the violence, a copy said. The text seen by AFP also underscores the need to send independent investigators to probe the government’s crackdown on protesters.
“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,” on August 1, said Ms Pillay.