Rights groups urge UN action on Syria

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Human rights groups from around the world Thursday urged the 193 U.N. member states to adopt a resolution in the General Assembly demanding that the Syrian government halt the use of deadly and excessive force against demonstrators.

The 29 rights groups include Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. They said in the joint appeal that the General Assembly must take action against Syria following vetoes by Russia and China on Oct. 4 of a Security Council resolution that threatened sanctions against Bashar Assad’s regime if it didn’t immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians.

There are no vetoes in the General Assembly, but unlike the Security Council, its resolutions are not legally binding.

The rights groups said the resolution should call for an end to arbitrary detention and torture of detainees, an account of those who have disappeared, cooperation with investigators from the U.N. Human Rights Council and unrestricted access for human rights monitors. It should also ask Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to name a special envoy for Syria, they said.

“We believe the time has come for the General Assembly to play its part by making clear the world body will no longer stay silent, while Syrians are the victims of government-orchestrated violence and grave human rights violations,” the appeal said.

The United Nations says more than 3,000 people have been killed in the government crackdown on the protests, and international pressure has been building for Assad to step down.

More than half the signatories to the appeal were Arab rights groups, including the Damascus Center for Human Rights Studies.