U.N. Rights Council Adopts Resolution Urging Syria to Allow Aid Access

The U.N.'s Human Rights Council called on Syria Thursday to end all rights abuses and allow aid agencies "free and unimpeded" access to those caught up in the bloodshed.

A resolution adopted by the council condemned the "continued widespread and systematic violations of human rights" and urged the authorities to let humanitarian groups, including U.N. organization, in to deliver vital aid.

Russia, Cuba and China voted against the resolution while India, the Philippines and Ecuador abstained.

Civilians in Homs, Daraa and Zabadani are in particular need of urgent help, said the resolution tabled by Qatar and Turkey earlier this week.

The Syrian representative to the U.N. boycotted an HRC debate on the human rights situation in the violence-wracked country on Tuesday.

A crackdown by troops in response to 11 months of protests against President Bashar Assad's regime has left more than 7,500 people dead, according to the United Nations.

The resolution calls on Assad's regime to "permit humanitarian agencies to deliver vital relief goods and services to all civilians affected by the violence, especially in Homs, Daraa, Zabadani and other areas under siege by the Syrian security forces."

The eight-point resolution also expressed concern over "the lack of access to basic food, medicine and fuel, as well as threats to and acts of violence against medical staff, patients and facilities."