U.N. Rights Chief Urges ICC Referral of Syria Crimes

The U.N.'s human rights chief called Friday for Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court over allegations that its crackdown on opposition protesters has led to crimes against humanity.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said fresh reports from the country — including that 307 children have been killed since March — reinforced the need for the Security Council to submit the situation in Syria to the Hague-based 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 told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

A draft resolution backed by African, European, Asian, Arab and American members of the 47-nation rights 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.

Russia and China have held back support for the resolution. The two permanent members of the Security Council have condemned the bloodshed, but are staunchly resisting further international pressure on Syria.

Pillay said her office had received reliable information that the death toll since the start of the eight-month uprising was now "much more" than 4,000.

"The Syrian authorities' continual ruthless repression, if not stopped now, can drive the country into a full-fledged civil war," she said.

The chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Pinheiro, told the session that Syrian state forces killed 56 children in November in the "deadliest month" since the start of the March crackdown on dissidents.

The panel spoke to 223 victims, witnesses and defectors from the Syrian military from September to November after being tasked by the Human Rights Council, though it was not granted access to the country.

Pinheiro said they had gathered a solid body of evidence showing children were among the victims of murder and torture carried out by state forces.