Syrian crisis reaching stage of civil war, UN human rights chief says

 UN News Centre, Dec  2, 2011

Syrian women protesting in May 2011

1 December 2011 – The deteriorating situation in Syria is now close to a civil war and the death toll from the nine-month crackdown by the country’s security forces against protesters has passed at least 4,000, the United Nations human rights chief said today.

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told journalists in Geneva that 4,000 was a conservative estimate, with “the reliable information coming to us… that it’s much more than that.”

Ms. Pillay will address a special session tomorrow of the UN Human Rights Council, which is meeting in Geneva to discuss this week’s release of an independent international commission of inquiry into the crackdown.

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