International community must step up pressure on Syrian regime

Reporters Without Borders expresses its support for the call that UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay is expected to make today during a closed session of the UN Security Council for the creation of an international criminal tribunal to examine Syria’s grave violations of international humanitarian law. The press freedom organization urges the international community to keep up the pressure on the Syrian regime and President Bashar Al-Assad, who recently spoke of “the end of military operations.” We have little confidence in this kind of announcement, given the erratic statements we have come to expect from the regime in the past. Reporters Without Borders also points out that the end of the military operations does not necessarily mean the end of repression. Reporters Without Borders reiterates the urgency of the need to send international observers to Syria. This is indispensable in order to establish the truth about all the acts of violence that have been taking place there in recent months. The organization also stresses the primordial role that journalists, both local and foreign, are playing in producing independently reported news and information about the events in Syria, especially the serious human rights violations. We demand respect for the media’s right to move about the country freely.