Syria urged to let in rights monitors

GENEVA, Switzerland, June 16 (UPI) -- Syria is called on to let international rights monitors into the country and put an end to the violence, the U.S. envoy to a U.N. rights council said.

The top human rights official at the United Nations said Wednesday that more than 1,000 people were killed in Syria since a March uprising began. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said her agency wasn't allowed access to the country, however, despite ongoing concerns.

Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. envoy to the U.N. Human Rights Council, stressed that the international community not only demanded "the immediate halt" of violence in Syria but also "unfettered access" to Syria for human rights officials.

"The alleged breaches of the most fundamental rights on such a broad scale require thorough investigation and, with respect to the perpetrators, full accountability," she said.

She added that Washington strongly supports the rights of the Syrian people, including the fundamental right to protest peacefully.

"These are human rights. They are universal. They are not negotiable. They must be respected in every country," she said in a statement. "And they cannot be denied through violence or suppression."