“There must be a neutral international investigation to unveil the truth of what is happening and to identify those responsible for these crimes and to bring them to justice,” al-Arabi said in a statement carried by Egyptian state news agency Mena..
More than 8,000 people have died in the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to the United Nations, including many women and children. Recent video footage showed dead bodies strewn in the streets of the cities of Homs, Idlib and Deir al-Zor.
“The acts of killing and horrendous elimination of whole families including women, children and elders can be described as crimes against humanity,” al-Arabi, head of the Cairo-based body, said.
Meanwhile, the UN has said that it will soon deploy human rights monitors in countries bordering Syria to collect eyewitness testimony on “atrocities” committed in the country.
Independent UN investigators led by Paulo Pinheiro said last month that Syrian forces committed crimes against humanity including murder and torture on orders from the “highest level” of the government of Assad.
“We will be sending monitors for information collection and documentation of atrocities in bordering areas of neighbouring countries later this week,” Kyung-wha Kang, deputy UN high commissioner for human rights told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Kang said the UN Security Council had to consider referring Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation.
“The situation deserves Security Council action, the point of it being consideration of referral to the ICC,” she said, reiterating a call by UN rights boss Navi Pillay.
She gave no details about the UN monitoring operation.
Syria’s neighbours include Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.
About 30,000 Syrians have now fled to neighbouring countries and at least 200,000 may be uprooted within the country due to the fighting, the UN refugee agency said yesterday.
Pinheiro’s three-member panel has given an envelope containing its confidential list of those suspected of crimes against humanity to Pillay’s office.
“The confidential list handed over is now within her safekeeping along with a list a (previous) fact-finding mission had also produced,” Kang said.
Pinheiro called for an immediate, comprehensive ceasefire by both sides in the year-long uprising against Assad, and support for mediation efforts by joint UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Annan said he was expecting a response to concrete proposals he made to end violence during weekend talks with Assad.
