Syrian Response to Protests ‘Shocking,’ UN Rights Chief Says

Violence used by Syrian, Yemeni and Libyan leaders to curb pro-democracy protests is “shocking” and has led to widespread human-rights violations, said Navi Pillay, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

“People in the Middle East and North Africa are expressing their aspirations of human rights that are taken for granted by people elsewhere in the world,” she said in an interview in Geneva. “The responses to these demands by the governments of Libya, Yemen and Syria have been shocking. The information emerging from all these countries leads me to believe human-rights violations are taking place on a widespread basis.”