Pressure piles on Syria
To allow aid to civilians caught up in the bloodshed:
Switzerland: Senior diplomats at the UN Human Rights Council on
Monday ramped up pressure on Syria to allow aid to civilians caught up
in the bloodshed while warning the regime it will be held to account for
"atrocities" against its people.
Council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre told delegates meeting in
Geneva that it hoped for a "positive response" from Syrian authorities
so that help could be delivered to those affected by the violence.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe, one of around 90 government
ministers and senior officials at the gathering, said his country wanted
to see the regime dragged before the International Criminal Court.
"The international community should prepare the conditions for a
referral to the ICC," he said.
British Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne also warned that those
responsible for rights abuses since President Bashar al-Assad's regime
launched a brutal crackdown on protesters in March would be held to
account.
Browne called for "impartial, neutral access" for humanitarian groups
and urged the council to pass a resolution proposing an extension of the
mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, established by the UN to
investigate the situation there.
"Those responsible for the atrocities should be in no doubt -- they
will be personally held to account for the appalling crimes they have
committed," he said.
AFP
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