Syria is at risk of becoming like Libya, where an uprising against a long-standing dictator unleashed a civil war, the United Nations human rights chief predicted.
“It happened in Libya; it may happen in Syria,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the Security Council today in New York. “More and more soldiers refuse to become complicit in international crimes and are changing sides.”
The parallel with Libya will resonate with the Security Council, the most powerful UN body, where efforts to stop an eighth-month crackdown in Syria were met with a rare double-veto by Russia and China. The UN-sanctioned NATO bombing over Libya was hailed as a success by Western governments yet judged a disaster by critics such as Russian leaders who said the UN mandate was abused to bring about regime change.
“Where basic human rights are trampled and peaceful demands for change met by brutal violence, people are eventually compelled to have recourse to rebellion against tyranny and oppression,” Pillay told the Security Council. “There is a serious risk of Syria descending into armed struggle.”
In the case of Libya, the U.S., Britain and France were able to persuade the other two permanent council members, Russia and China, to abstain from the March vote that allowed “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Muammar Qaddafi’s forces. They failed to replicate that diplomatic success for Syria.
In a concerted monthlong bid to overcome Russian opposition, the Europeans watered down an initial draft that called for an arms embargo. The final text was also stripped of all specific references to sanctions.
Impasse Remains
For now, the impasse continues in the Security Council over any action against Syria, especially given the difficulties in gaining first-hand knowledge of the repression. Syria has banned most foreign journalists, restricted local news coverage of the unrest, hindered foreign diplomats, and blocked humanitarian monitoring groups from entering the country.
Pressure will mount on the Arab League, which meets in Cairo on Nov. 22, to take further steps after President Bashar al-Assad’s government failed to implement a peace plan under which it agreed to pull tanks out of cities, release detained prisoners and begin supervised talks with the opposition.
Since signing the plan last week, more than 60 people are reported to have been killed by military forces that are using tanks and heavy weaponry to attack residents in Homs, the UN human rights office said. Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, has been under siege for seven days, with residents deprived of food, water and medical supplies.
The latest bout of violence has pushed the death toll since mid-March to more than 3,500, the human rights office said.
China today called for an immediate end to violence in Syria and an early start of an inclusive political process to ensure Syrian issues get solved via talks and negotiation, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a faxed statement.
