- Title: U.N. rights chief slams Security Council for failing to act on eastern Aleppo
- Date: 12th October 2016
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 12, 2016) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS BUILDING NEWS BRIEFING ONGOING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN, SAYING: "The Security Council was unable to take any decision in respect of halting the actions in eastern Aleppo last week and it very much raises the question in my mind when speaking of the Security Council, "security for whom?" Certainly not for the people of eastern Aleppo. Certainly not for them." JOURNALISTS DURING BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN, SAYING: "Anything that ends the suffering of the people, whomever they are attacked by. Anything that ends the massive violations that we see of human rights, this is something that we support." JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.N. HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, ZEID RA'AD AL HUSSEIN, SAYING: "We are very alarmed about the trajectory the country's taking, you have seen the outcome of the report of the independent experts and it needs no further elucidation. And so similarly when contrasting Columbia with Burundi, we hope that the Burundian authorities would review their decision and see the value and worth of continuing to work with us." UNITED NATIONS BUILDING
- Embargoed: 27th October 2016 13:17
- Keywords: Syria United Nations U.N. Security Council Aleppo Zeid
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Government/Politics,United Nations
- Reuters ID: LVA00153P9LXJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The U.N.'s top human rights official criticised the Security Council on Wednesday (October 12) for failing to act on eastern Aleppo, following a Russian veto of a resolution drafted by France to halt the bombardment of the besieged rebel-held part of the city.
"The Security Council was unable to take any decision in respect of halting the actions in eastern Aleppo last week and it very much raises the question in my mind when speaking of the Security Council, "Security for whom?" Certainly not for the people of eastern Aleppo. Certainly not for them," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra-ad Al Hussein told a briefing in Geneva.
Zeid last week proposed that Security Council veto powers be curtailed in cases of serious war crimes to help resolve the situation and bring Syria under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Russian war planes have bombed rebel-held eastern Aleppo in the past two weeks in support of Syrian and allied ground forces who are besieging about 275,000 civilians. The United Nations says hospitals have been hit and more than 400 people killed.
The U.N.'s Syria envoy last week offered to personally accompany up to 1,000 Islamist rebels from the area if they were prepared to leave to help halt the bombing - an offer backed up by Zeid.
"Anything that ends the suffering of the people, whomever they are attacked by. Anything that ends the massive violations that we see of human rights, this is something that we support," he said.
He also discussed Burundi which on Tuesday suspended its cooperation with U.N. inspectors investigating political violence in the country.
"We are very alarmed about the trajectory the country's taking, you have seen the outcome of the report of the independent experts and it needs no further elucidation," he said.
The Burundi government was infuriated when the U.N. released a report last month identifying government officials suspected of ordering political opposition to be tortured or killed.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court said in April that at least 450 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee fled after clashes broke out following President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in office last year.
Opponents said the move violated the constitution and a peace agreement that ended a civil war in 2005. The president cited a court ruling saying he could run again, and won an election boycotted by most opposition parties. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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