UN rights chief urges protection for Syrians

UN rights chief urges protection for Syrians

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The UN human rights chief has issued another appeal for the urgent protection of the Syrian people from the government's crackdown. Navi Pillay made the remarks at an emergency meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday.

She demanded the international community hold accountable the government of President Bashar al-Assad for crimes against humanity.

Reports of violence came in from Syria even as the rights body's meeting was under way.

Activists reported that at least five people were killed by security forces following fresh protests after Friday's Muslim noon prayers.

On the Syrian-Lebanese border, four Lebanese, including an 11-year-old girl, were wounded while fleeing gunfire coming from across the Syrian side, Lebanese security officials said.

In Geneva, the UN's human rights chief said reports from Syria - including that 307 children have been killed since March - reinforced the need for the UN Security Council to submit the situation in the country to the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Pillay said.

A draft resolution against the Syrian violence backed by African, European, Asian, Arab and American members of the 47-nation council calls for the establishment of a special investigator on Syria, but leaves open the issue of whether the more powerful Security Council should refer the country to the ICC.

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