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Summary: On 27 June, the Human Rights Council held a discussion on the situation in Syria.
Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the situation in Syria continued to deteriorate, regardless of the ceasefire agreement of 12 April 2012. She urged all the parties to immediately stop all forms of violence. Ms. Pillay presented the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the human rights situation in Syria. Jean-Marie Guehenno, Deputy Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, said the six-point plan was clearly not being implemented and hostilities had now surpassed levels seen before 12 April. The human rights situation in Syria was inextricably linked to the political dimensions of the conflict. Syria was now engulfed by various types of violence, including sectarianism, with serious implications for the region. Amidst the insecurity, around 1.5 million people were in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. The impact of the conflict on children was of particular concern. At the moment all sides appeared not to believe in the possibility of a political solution. Time was running out. Syria was spiralling into deeper and more destructive violence. The people of Syria desperately needed the international community to come together and exercise its full influence before it was too late. Paulo Pinheiro of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said gross violations of human rights were occurring regularly in the context of increasingly militarized fighting, characteristic of a non-international armed conflict. Mr. Pinheiro was grateful to the Syrian authorities for enabling his visit to Damascus from 23 to 25 June, which allowed him to discuss the El-Houleh investigation with the authorities. More than 100 people were killed on 25 May in Taldou, one of El-Houleh’s larger towns, the significant majority of victims reported to be women and children deliberately killed in their homes. The Commission believed it unlikely that anti-Government fighters were responsible for the killing and considered that Syria Government forces or those loyal to them were the most likely perpetrators. The cessation of hostilities was of paramount importance. The Joint Special Envoy’s six-point plan offered the best option for a resolution of the conflict. Syria, speaking as the concerned country, said that national reconciliation could happen only when foreign powers stopped inciting violence. The crisis in Syria was a genuine war and a criminal operation involving destruction of property. It was supported and financed from abroad in order to promote hostility among the Syrian people and to perpetrate anarchy and disorder while Israel continued its colonization of Arab territories. Syria reiterated its commitment to the implementation of the Annan Plan and said it would not allow armed groups to attack United Nations observers and prevent them from implementing their mission.
pdf: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12297&L...