Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
June 6, 2012
The UN has launched a campaign against Syria, using the deaths at Houla to accuse the Syrian government of “ crimes against humanity ”.
Navi Pilay, UN high commissioner for human rights, admonished the international community to “make all efforts to end impunity” and “ensure accountability for perpetrators” of such “atrocities”.
The UN Human Rights Council (UNHC) held an emergency meeting to discuss the violence in Syria and what to do about President Assad.
Colelctively, the UNHC condemned Assad for the Houla deaths. Pilay stated in a scripted speech: “These acts may amount to crimes against humanity and other international crimes, and may be indicative of a pattern of widespread or systematic attacks against civilian populations that have been perpetrated with impunity.”
Pilay asked the UNHC to “ensure accountability for perpetrators”, meaning the Syrian government army forces and demanded that those who ordered the deaths should be “individually criminally liable”.
“We hold the Syrian government fully responsible for the slaughter of innocent civilians in Houla,” US ambassador Eileen Donahoe told the talks . “Those who committed these atrocities must be identified and held accountable.”
Kofi Annan, UN human rights envoy, says he is “impatient and frustrated” over the status of Syria.
Annan has been pressuring the Syrian government to comply with his “voluntary” six point peace plan.
The deaths in Syria keep mounting. In Houla, over 108 were found dead. The UN observers found another 13 dead in a similar “massacre”. And now it is being reported that 11 employees of a Syrian government run fertilizer factory were killed by “unknown gunmen”.
A Facebook page, attributed to the Syrian government, has posted pictures of the 11 dead in classrooms. And the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is admonishing Assad for this latest discovery. While more and more innocent Syrians are murdered to prove the point that Assad is bad, the UN is collecting conjecture to be used as evidence against the current Syrian regime.
An ultimatum has been made by Col Saadeddine that the Syrian government must “implement an immediate ceasefire, withdraw its troops, tanks and artillery from Syrian cities and villages. It should also allow immediate humanitarian aid to all affected areas and free all detainees… The regime should also enter into a real and serious negotiation through the United Nations to hand over power to the Syrian people.”
Assad responded that the FSA is “committed to the Kofi Annan plan and committed to international resolutions and implementing this plan. There is no deadline; however, we hope that Kofi Annan will issue a statement to announce the failure of this plan.”
Both Russia and China have effectively blocked the UNSC from achieving their goal of blaming the Syrian government for the tragedies that have been occurring in Syria.
Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, has vehemently condemned Russia’s stance on Syria, claiming that their policy is contributing to the “potential civil war” that will most likely occur in the region.
In Denmark, Clinton remarked: “[The Russians] are telling me they don’t want to see a civil war. I have been telling them their policy is going to help to contribute to a civil war.”
After Russian President Valdimir Putin arrived in Germany, German Chancellor Angela Merkel began pressuring Putin on Russia’s stance on the Syrian crisis.
Putin has been submitted to coercion by the US and most Western nations to act in chorus against Assad; calling for a forced regime change.
Merkel said that Russia was displaying “constructive cooperation” while noting Putin’s caution on siding with the recent call for the UN to intercede in Syria.
The European Union (EU) is calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to preside over the “massacre” at Houla.
The EU is also reprimanding Russia for not joining the UN and other certain countries to rally against Assad and the Syrian government. It is assumed that Russia’s decision on where their “loyalties” lay will define the resolution of the Syrian situation.
Catherine Ashton, EU policy Chief, Herman Van Rompuy, EU president, and Jose Barroso, European commission president, came together to bring the issue of Russia, and the comments of Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign minister to the foreground.
The Summit talks will commence on June 3rd.
The case against Assad, regardless of its truth, is being laid by the UN.
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