By Salwa Al-Jandoubi
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22 (KUNA) -- Russia on Tuesday said the overwhelming vote earlier today in the General Assembly's Social Committee on a resolution "strongly condemning" Syria for human rights violations, and its delegation's abstention on it do not mean that Moscow will change its position if the issue were brought back to the Security Council in the future.
"It's a completely different situation. This does not mean that our position in the Security Council has changed. It does not change our position vis-a-vis the Security Council, that I can tell you," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told KUNA following the vote.
Churkin was responding to diplomats who said the overwhelming vote in the Assembly's Social Committee earlier today on a Syria resolution and the Arab position in Cairo and Rabat would open the door to the possibility of revisiting the Syrian issue in the Security Council in the future.
German Ambassador Peter Wittig, for instance, told reporters after today's vote "we were very disappointed when the Council could not act because of a double veto." "We think that now, as the Arab region has spoken out so clearly with two momentous decisions in Cairo and Rabat that the Security Council can not fall behind the region. We would encourage the Security Council to come back to this issue," Wittig said.
Russia and China vetoed a Council resolution in early October that would also "strongly condemn" the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities.
But unlike the resolution adopted in the Committee today, the one vetoed by Russia and China in the Council would state that those responsible for those violations should be held accountable, request the Secretary-General to appoint a special envoy for the country, impose an arms embargo on Syria and consider "targeted measures," meaning sanctions, if Syria does not comply with the resolution.
Wittig also told reporters that today's vote is "a very strong message. It is a message to the Syrian authorities to stop the violence. And it is a message to the people of Syria that their suffering is not ignored," stressing that it is so "important" that many Arab countries supported it.
"It's now a new game: the Arab region has spoken. We support the Arab region - and today there is a message that Syria and the Syrian authorities would better listen." He said.
The Assembly's Social Committee, known as the Third Committee, earlier today voted 122 in favour to 13 against, with 41 abstentions, including Russia and China, to "strongly condemn" the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities against anti-government protesters who have been trying to oust their President Bashar Al-Assad since mid March.
Among those who also abstained on the resolution today are Lebanon, Algeria, India, Indonesia and South Africa.
UN Director Human Rights Watch Philippe Bolopion said in a statement that by siding with the victims of the Syrian government's ruthless repression, the General Assembly's committee has succeeded where the Security Council had failed, paralyzed by the Russian and Chinese vetoes.
As it continues to kill, imprison and torture protesters, he added, the Syrian government is on notice that the circle of its friends at the UN is rapidly shrinking.
He also called on the Council to adopt a resolution imposing an arms embargo, referring the case to the International Criminal Court and sanctioning the Syrian leaders involved in the abuse.
US Ambassador Susan Rice, who is traveling in Africa, reacted to today's vote saying through the US Mission that the "Assembly's panel spoke up for the people of Syria and against the Assad Regime, which has repeatedly gone to horrific lengths to silence dissent." "By overwhelmingly adopting its first-ever resolution on Syria's human rights abuses, the General Assembly's Third Committee has sent a clear message that it does not accept abuse and death as a legitimate path to retaining power," she said.
The US, she vowed, "will continue working with the international community to press for an end to the violence and human rights abuses in Syria." (end) sj.bs KUNA 222347 Nov 11NNNN