AJC Applauds U.S.-initiated UN Human Rights Council Action on Syria

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Apr 29, 2011, 04:51 ET

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC applauded the UN Human Rights Council's adoption of a strong resolution against Syria for human rights violations.

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"This is a historic day in the annals of the UN Human Rights Council," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "We salute the Obama Administration for initiating the resolution on Syria and pressing for its adoption at an emergency session of the Council devoted to Syria."

By a vote of 26 to 9, and seven abstentions, the Human Rights Council urged the High Commissioner for Human Rights to the UN "to urgently dispatch a mission to the Syrian Arab Republic to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law."

The Council "unequivocally condemns the use of lethal violence against peaceful protestors by the Syrian authorities," stated the resolution, "and urges the Syrian government to immediately put an end to all human rights violations."

AJC had earlier this week called for the Human Rights Council to convene and take urgent action on Syria, where hundreds of innocent protestors have been killed by the Bashar al-Assad regime over the past several weeks.

During the AJC Global Forum session on human rights today, Suzanne Nossel, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, announced the Council vote, which was greeted with thunderous applause by the more than 1,000 people attending the AJC conference in Washington.

Earlier at the AJC Global Forum session participants watched a video message from Radwan Ziadeh, a leading Syrian human rights advocate, who originally was scheduled to be on the panel but had traveled at the request of the U.S. government to Geneva to participate in the Council’s emergency session.

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee