Western allies in UNSC to work on Syria sanctions resolution

Western members on the Security Council said late Thursday they will soon begin work on a sanctions resolution on Syria for its deadly crackdown on its own people. The announcement came as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay recommended to the Council during a private meeting to refer the issue to the international Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN Top Humanitarian Coordinator Valerie Amos informed the same Council meeting that Damascus has agreed to receive a humanitarian Mission this Saturday for about four days to assess the needs in the affected areas. British Deputy Ambassador Philip Parham, surrounded by his French, German, Portuguese and American colleagues, told reporters following the Council meeting "we believe the time has come for the Council to take further actions to step up the pressure against those who are responsible for the violence against the citizens of Syria. "So we will be working on a Security Council resolution which will include measures to apply that pressure to those who are responsible, and we will be discussing that resolution with our colleagues on the Council over the coming days." He said he did not have a "precise timetable. We're going to work on it as fast as we can. It's now two weeks, and the longer this goes on, the more compelling the argument is that more pressure is needed. And we believe that that compelling argument will have a lot of force with our Council colleagues." Asked what sanctions he had in mind, he said "I don't want to pre-empt the discussions and negotiations within the Council, but you will have seen the types of measures that for example the European Union has adopted: asset freezes and travel bans on individuals and entities particularly involved in perpetrating the violence, and an arms embargo. Those are the kinds of measures which we believe will help to discourage those who are responsible and make it harder for (them) to continue the violence." He was not sure whether the Council would decide on referring the Syrian case to the ICC, but said "several Council members made the point very clearly that those responsible for the violence need to be held accountable." US Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said Pillay's briefing to the Council was "truly, deeply disturbing," noting that the measures that President Obama announced earlier in the day "will further tighten the isolation around the regime." She expressed hope that states in the region and other members of the international community will amplify their positions both "through their words and their actions, it's very clear that we've seen a lot of condemnation in the last couple of weeks from the region and from elsewhere. We anticipate increased reaction as well." French Deputy Ambassador Martin Briens told reporters that the uprising in Syria is a destabilizing factor not only in Syria, but also in the region and consequently to international peace and security. Pillay told reporters following the Council meeting that she recommended that the Council refer the Syrian issue to the ICC, stressing that the Council is the only body that has the power to do so. "I also recommended referral to the International Criminal Court because all the evidence produced by the Commission's report support a finding of widespread and systematic violations of human rights equaling crimes against humanity," she said. She added, however, that she did not "hold out much hope" that the Council will act on her recommendation, given the position of some Council members with veto powers, mainly Russia. She also briefed the Council about the Report of the fact-finding Mission on Syria, produced earlier today by her Geneva-based Office, in response to a request by the UN Human Rights Council. As many as 2,000 Syrians have been killed in the past five months since the start of the pro-democracy protests, which are part of a broader uprising across North Africa and the Middle East that has led to the toppling of long-standing regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and conflict in Libya. Amos also told reporters following the Council meeting that Syria has agreed to receive a humanitarian Mission this Saturday for about three or four days and promised to provide full access to the team to visit the different affected cities to assess the humanitarian needs there. Syrian Ambassador Bashar Al-Ja'afari later told reporters it was "really pitiful and unacceptable to hear from seasoned diplomats in charge of important questions pertaining to maintaining peace and security ... really pitiful to see these influential countries in the council, making use of the council as an instrument to fulfill their illegitimate strategies against my own country as well as against the whole area." "There is no concrete outcome (of the meeting), because thank God we still have wise guys inside this council who do have different information and who do have solid and credible reports," he noted, in an indirect reference to the representatives of Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa who have been opposed to any Council action against Syria, even to an open Council meeting.