AFP, Geneva, 10 Feb 2012 – The UN rights office said Friday that Syrian officials responsible for carrying out or ordering crimes against humanity should face prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
‘We believe, and we’ve said it and we’ll keep repeating it, that the case of Syria belongs in the International Criminal Court,’ Rupert Colville, spokesman for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, said at a briefing.
‘This would give a very, very strong message to those running the show,’ he said.
Asked who could take the allegation to the ICC, Colville said, ‘As things stand, only the Security Council can do that.’
A UN report in November on a commission of inquiry said that Syria’s security forces had committed crimes against humanity, including murder, torture and rape of civilians.
Colville said the United Nations, which stopped issuing Syrian death toll figures in January, might be in a position later to report again on numbers of violence victims.
Human rights groups say that the conflict that began in March 2011 has left more than 6,000 people dead.
‘Clearly the numbers are increasing every day’, said Colville.