AJC Praises UN Human Rights Council Call for Humanitarian Relief to Syria

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Mar 01, 2012, 01:41 ET

NEW YORK, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC praised a new UN Human Rights Council resolution condemning Syria and calling on the regime to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. The measure passed 37 to 3, with 3 abstentions. China, Russia and Cuba opposed. India, Ecuador and Philippines abstained.

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"The UN Human Rights Council again has delivered a strong message to the Assad regime," said AJC Executive Director David Harris, "but any chance of delivering urgently needed relief is blocked by the Syrian government and its allies."

Today's measure marks the fourth time since April that the Human Rights Council has condemned Syria. Previous measures have sharply criticized the Bashar al-Assad regime for human rights abuses, and a council report provided details of the regime's killings, arrests and torture of thousands of Syrians.

The report, issued in December, concluded that the Assad regime had committed "gross and systematic violations of human rights…that may amount to crimes against humanity." The UN has put the death toll since the uprising began nearly a year ago at 7,500.

"As long as Assad knows that he enjoys the support of a few major world powers, he will continue to act with impunity," said Harris. "And the result, tragically, will be still more murder and destruction, as Assad fights to hold to the dictatorial power he inherited from his father in 2000."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee