Dubai: The death toll in the Syrian regime crackdown is now "certainly well over 7,500 and more than 100 civilians are now often killed each day, the UN Security Council was told on Tuesday.
B. Lynn Pascoe, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, also told the council "the international community has failed in its duty to stop the carnage," encouraging the Syrian government to believe that it can act with "impunity".
The UN official's comments came after Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in Geneva that the world has to take action to prevent Syrian security forces from continuing their bombardments and other attacks against civilians, which she said had resulted in "countless atrocities."
The appeal prompted a bitter riposte from Syria's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, who accused the 47-nation council of promoting terrorism in his country. Faisal Khabbaz Hamoui stormed out of the session after calling on countries to stop "inciting sectarianism and providing arms" to Syrian rebels.
France, meanwhile, said the UN Council was starting work on a draft resolution and the need to gain humanitarian access to Homs and other embattled areas.
"We hope Russia and China will not oppose the proposed resolution," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
In Syria, embattled president Bashar Al Assad, projecting an aura of normality in a land ravaged by 11 months of conflict over his right to power, decreed that a new constitution was in force on Tuesday after officials said nearly 90 per cent of voters had endorsed it in a referendum.
