UN human rights chief urges Syria ceasefire
The UN’s human rights chief said today the situation in Syria had deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks and demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Navi Pillay said her office had received reports that Syrian military and security forces “have launched massive campaigns of arrest” and launched an onslaught against government opponents that has deprived many civilians of food, water and medical supplies.
Ms Pillay told an urgent meeting of the UN Human Rights Council that “hundreds of people have reportedly been killed since the start of this latest assault in the beginning of February 2012”.
She called on Syria to end all fighting, allow international monitors to enter the country and give unhindered access to aid agencies.
Meanwhile, activists say troops have resumed heavy shelling of towns and cities in Syria’s restive central region, a day after reports of 144 more people killed.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling of the central town of Halfaya today killed at least four civilians and wounded dozens, many of them seriously.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said 20 people were killed and 100 wounded in the town.
Both groups said the rebel-held district of Baba Amr in the central city of Homs was under intense shelling. The LCC said 12 people were killed in Homs.
Yesterday, the LCC said 144 people were killed across Syria, scores of them in Baba Amr by security forces as they tried to flee.
Earlier, an aid group linked to the Red Cross said it had entered Baba Amr.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said a team from its Syrian sister organisation, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was trying to deliver medical supplies and evacuate wounded people.
Aid groups have been unable to enter Baba Amr since Friday, when 27 sick and wounded people were evacuated.
