News / International
Over 5 000 people killed in nine months, Syria: UN
15 Dec 2011 at 07:50hrs | Views
MORE than 5,000 people – 300 of them children have been killed in nine months of unrest in Syria, the UN human rights chief said, as an insurgency begins to overshadow what had been mostly peaceful protests against president Bashar al-Assad.
The latest figure reported to the UN Security Council by Navi Pillay is 1 000 higher than the one she announced just 10 days ago. The toll includes civilians, army defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians, but not soldiers and other security personnel killed by opposition forces, she said.
The Syrian government has said more than 1 100 members of the army, police and security services have been killed.
Pillay said the Syrian government's actions could constitute crimes against humanity and issued a fresh call for the council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
A wave of largely peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule erupted in Syria in mid-March, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.
The latest figure reported to the UN Security Council by Navi Pillay is 1 000 higher than the one she announced just 10 days ago. The toll includes civilians, army defectors and those executed for refusing to shoot civilians, but not soldiers and other security personnel killed by opposition forces, she said.
Pillay said the Syrian government's actions could constitute crimes against humanity and issued a fresh call for the council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court.
A wave of largely peaceful protests against four decades of Assad family rule erupted in Syria in mid-March, inspired by popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya.
Source - Reuters
