U.N. Rights Council Hopes for Positive Response from Syria on Aid

International diplomats at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday ramped up the pressure on the Syrian regime to allow the delivery of aid to civilians caught up in the bloodshed.

"We hope there will be a positive response from the Syrian authorities so that we can help all those affected" by the violence, council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre said as delegates met in Geneva.

British Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne also warned that those responsible for the "atrocities" since President Bashar al-Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on protesters in March would be held to account.

About 90 government ministers and senior officials were gathered in Geneva for the opening of the rights council's 19th session, which runs to March 23.

Dupuy Lasserre of Uruguay said council members would hold a special debate on Syria on Tuesday after Russia -- which has angered the West over its vetoes of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the crisis -- gave its agreement.

"We hope that the urgent debate that has been requested can be convened so that we pass on a unanimous and robust message from the international community of condemning of the violence," she said.

Russia said the debate must take place in a "constructive and de-politicized manner," warning that any document produced at the meeting would be "counter-productive".

Russia and China hit back on Monday after U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton last week criticized their stance on Syria as "despicable."

Iran, which is not a member of the rights council but holds observer status, had lodged a formal objection to the debate, the meeting was told.

More than 7,600 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad's rule erupted in March last year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Browne told delegates that his country reacted with "horror" to reports of "hospitals used as torture centers and executions carried out in places of worship" in Syria.

He called for "impartial, neutral access" for humanitarian groups and urged the council to pass a resolution proposing an extension of the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, established by the U.N. to investigate the situation there.

"Those responsible for the atrocities should be in no doubt -- they will be personally held to account for the appalling crimes they have committed."

Browne also expressed concern that rights abuses were being carried out by anti-government groups but said these were not on the scale of those committed by Assad's regime.

Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter also called on the Syrian authorities to allow humanitarian aid through unimpeded.

Switzerland "supports the initiatives aimed at aiding those affected by the violence," said Burkhalter, and in particular a Red Cross call for a two-hour daily halt to fighting.

Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Bin Mohammed al-Attiyah called for a "peaceful way out of the violence" and a "decent life for Syrian citizens".

The Commission of Inquiry last Thursday gave U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay a list of Syrian military and political officials suspected of crimes against humanity that will be discussed on March 12.

The panel said it documented a widespread and systematic pattern of gross violations by Syrian forces.

It said Syria's government had "manifestly failed" to protect its people, but also said it had found instances of gross abuses committed by rebel fighters, many of them army defectors.