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GENEVA – The U.N.'s top human rights official warned Friday that all-outcivil war could engulf Syria unless countries back internationalenvoy Kofi Annan's peace plan and calls for an independent probeinto the killing of more than 100 civilians last week in the Arabcountry. As countries lined up at an emergency meeting of the U.N. HumanRights Council to express their horror about the Houla massacre, inwhich the global body said 49 children were among the dead, theU.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights appealed for support forthe six-point plan to halt the violence in Syria. "Otherwise, the situation in Syria might descend into afull-fledged conflict and the future of the country, as well as theregion as a whole could be in grave danger," Navi Pillay told the47-nation council in a speech read out on her behalf. It was the fourth time that the Geneva-based council called anurgent meeting on Syria, something the country's ambassador to theU.N. in Geneva, Fayssal al-Hamwi, said was a sign that somecountries are trying to divide his country. Al-Hamwi, too, condemned the massacre in Houla but blamed it on"groups of armed terrorists" seeking to ignite sectarian strife. U.S. Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe said there was no doubtthat the regime of President Bashar Assad was responsible for thekilling. "There needs to be justice and accountability for those thatcommitted these atrocities," she told the council. A draft resolution proposed by Qatar, Turkey and the United Statescondemns the killings in Houla and states that "those responsiblefor serious violations of human rights must be held accountable,"but doesn't suggest how. European diplomats want the resolution to include a call for theU.N. Security Council in New York to consider referring themassacre to the International Criminal Court. This is something therights council cannot do on its own. And since Syria isn't a member of the ICC, under international lawonly the Security Council can refer it to the Hague-based tribunal. "Mostly we are pressing for some stronger language onaccountability," said Maria Ulff Moeller, a Danish diplomat whosecountry currently holds the rotating presidency of the EuropeanUnion. "We can encourage the Security Council to refer thesituation to the ICC, and it's something we are pushing for." Human rights groups backed the EU position. "At this stage what weneed is a strong resolution requesting ICC referral," said Juliettede Rivero, a spokeswoman for the group Human Rights Watch. But other nations who favor sharp language critical of Syria arequestioning whether the rights body should invoke the war crimestribunal. "Obviously we want to hold the violators accountable," said DavidKennedy, a spokesman for the U.S. mission in Geneva. "Ultimately,though, it's not the role of the Human Rights Council to makerecommendations to the Security Council." The draft resolution also calls on Syria to allow the rightscouncil's panel of experts to visit the country, something it haspreviously rejected. The head of the panel, Brazilian professor Paulo Sergio Pinheirotold Brazil's O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper on Thursday that"Houla is a warning of how a civil war would be." He plans to present a report on the killings at a regular meetingof the council on June 27. "The Syrians think that by impeding our access we won't be able tomake it, but we have proven that we can do it," he was quoted assaying. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Cardboard Envelopes , China Bubble Wrap Bags for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Bubble Wrap Bags.
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