Syria troops have killed more than 250 children, UN report finds
Report to UN human rights council accuses Damascus of crimes against humanity and operating shoot-to-kill policy
Syrian security forces have committed "gross violations of human rights" since widespread anti-government protests began in March, according to a damning United Nations report (pdf).
The investigation by the UN's independent international commission found patterns of summary execution, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance and torture, including sexual violence, as well as violations of children's rights.
The report said at least 256 children had been killed by government forces, and that some boys had been sexually abused. One military defector told researchers he had witnessed the shooting of a two-year-old girl by an officer who said he did not want her to grow up to be a demonstrator.
The 40-page report includes testimony from defectors from the security forces, who described indiscriminate shooting at unarmed protesters and snipers targeting those using loudspeakers or carrying cameras and mobile phones.
The document was based on interviews with 223 victims and witnesses, but observers were denied access to the country.
According to separate UN figures issued earlier this month, at least 3,500 people have been killed in Syria since March. The regime gives a figure of 600. Many of those, it says, were military and security personnel who were the victims of "terrorist gangs".
The report says: "State forces shot indiscriminately at unarmed protestors. Most were shot in the upper body, including in the head. Defectors from military and security forces told the commission that they had received orders to shoot at unarmed protesters without warning.
"In some instances, however, commanders of operations ordered protesters to disperse and issued warnings prior to opening fire. In some cases, non-lethal means were used p! rior to or at the same time as live ammunition."
Snipers, it says, were responsible for many casualties. The commission heard several accounts of how those who were trying to rescue the wounded and collect the bodies of demonstrators also came under sniper fire. Defectors witnessed the killing of comrades who refused to execute orders to fire at civilians.
Torture and killings reportedly took place in the Homs military hospital by security forces dressed as doctors and allegedly acting with the complicity of medical personnel. Torture was described as "rampant" at the detention facilities of the notorious air force intelligence branch at the Mazzeh airport near Damascus.
The commission said it was "particularly disturbed over the extensive reports of sexual violence, principally against men and boys, in places of detention".
The UN report recommends "prompt, independent and impartial investigations under both domestic and international law to end impunity, ensure accountability and bring perpetrators to justice." It also calls for immediate and full access for the commission and outside observers and other United Nations human rights monitoring bodies.
Syria's embattled government seems unlikely to respond. President Bashar al-Assad has just defied an Arab League call to allow in Arab observers to "protect civilans", and now faces punitive economic and financial sanctions as a result.
The foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said: "The Arab Syrian military, which we are all proud of, has given martyrs in order to protect the life of civilians."
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