The United Nations Human Rights Council has condemned Syria for using deadly force against peaceful protesters and launched an investigation into killings and other alleged crimes.
The 47-member forum, which held an emergency session at the request of the United States, endorsed a US-sponsored resolution by 26 votes to 9 with seven abstentions.
It also called on Damascus to allow freedom of expression, access to the Internet and to release political prisoners.
‘With today's vote, the Council has stood against attempts to silence dissent with the use of gratuitous violence, which is not the act of a responsible government,’ said Susan Rice, US ambassador to the UN in New York.
Her statement came after US President Barack Obama imposed new sanctions against Syrian figures, including a brother of President Bashar al-Assad in charge of troops in Deraa, the first diplomatic reprisal for Syria's violent crackdown.
Syrian human rights group Sawasiah said it had the names of a total of 62 people killed today by security forces during protests in Deraa, Rustun, Latakia, Homs and the town of Qadam, near Damascus.
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain were among five delegations absent for the vote, which came after heated debate and behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to some watering down of the text.
Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, Syria's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, defended Syrian forces saying they were showing ‘maximum self-restraint to avoid victims among innocent civilians.’
Some 60 officers and soldiers had been killed in the violence, he said.
Britain and France condemned Syria's crackdown and said Syria had no place in the forum.
‘The appropriate response to the protests is reform, not repression,’ British ambassador Peter Gooderham said.
Human Rights Watch called for the Arab League to withdraw its support for Syria's candidacy to the rights forum.
