Arab League Should Make Syria Report Public, HRW Says
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Arab League should release the report on its monitoring mission to Syria and urge the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions to stop the violence in the country, Human Rights Watch said.
Making the document public would help “address increasing concerns that its monitoring mission is being manipulated by the Syrian authorities,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in an e-mailed statement today. “Only a transparent assessment of the monitoring mission can determine whether the monitors should stay in the country.”
Arab League officials are due to meet in the next two days to review their monitoring mission in Syria, sent to check President Bashar al-Assad’s compliance with a pledge to withdraw forces from cities and release prisoners. Assad’s crackdown on protests that began in March has left more than 5,000 people dead, according to UN estimates.
The mission ended yesterday and can be renewed for another month under a protocol between Syria and the league. New York- based Human Rights Watch said it has documented steps by Syria’s government to interfere with the observers’ work.
more:http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-21/arab-league-should-make-syria-report-public-hrw-says.html
