By Noureddine Fridhi
Al Arabiya,  Brussels, , 31 May 2012
The U.N. Human Rights Council will condemn last week’s massacre of 108 civilians in al-Houla in Syria at a special session on Friday, the fourth in a series of emergency debates that have had little impact since the country’s crisis erupted more than a year ago.

According to a draft resolution on the “deteriorating human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in al-Houla”– obtained by Al Arabiya –, scheduled to be voted on by the council, the member-states will specifically condemn “in the harshest terms the outrageous killing of 49 children, all under the age of ten.”

The council will reiterate its urgent call on “Syrian authorities to put an immediate end to all violence and all human rights violations and meet their responsibility to protect their population.” It will emphasize “the Syrian authorities’ continued failure to protect and promote the rights of all Syrians, including through repeated and systematic violations of human rights.”
The request for a special session for the U.N. Human Rights Council was made by Qatar, Turkey, the United States, Kuwait, Denmark and the European Union and supported by 21 members and 30 observer states of the council. Sixteen names are needed to convene such a meeting.

According to the draft resolution, the U.N. council will urge the Syrian authorities “to immediately allow U.N. human rights mechanisms and missions full and unfettered access and freedom of movement within Syria.”

The resolution will request the Commission of Inquiry to urgently conduct a “comprehensive and independent special inquiry consistent with international standards” into the events of al-Houla,

The massacre, a clear breach of an April 12 ceasefire deal brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, has prompted many Western nations to expel Syria’s envoys from their capitals, a move that Russia said was counterproductive.

The European Union is likely to press the Human Rights Council to recommend that the U.N. Security Council refer al-Houla case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the draft resolution, the U.N. council will call on the Syrian authorities to grant “immediate, unimpeded and full access of humanitarian organizations to all areas of Syria in order to provide relief and humanitarian assistance.”