Pillay upset over inaction on Syria

GENEVA, Switzerland, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The failure of the Security Council to pass a resolution against Syria gave the government an excuse to "massacre its own people," a U.N. rights official said.

China and Russia voted against a draft resolution at the U.N. Security Council last weekend. Russia's foreign minister later met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who reportedly made assurances he'd search for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Despite the pledges, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was "appalled" by the siege of the city of Homs. She said it was time for the international community to "cut through the politics" and do something to protect the civilian population in Syria.

"The failure of the Security Council to agree on firm collective action appears to have fueled the Syrian government's readiness to massacre its own people in an effort to crush dissent," she said in a statement Wednesday.

Moscow had said it fears action at the Security Council would allow a military intervention like last year's NATO-led campaign in Libya. Moscow also counts the Syrian government as a major customer for military hardware.

Pillay pointed to commitments made during a world summit in 2005, where world leaders pledged to intervene in states where the government is suspected of committing crimes against humanity against its people.

"The virtual carte blanche now granted to the Syrian government betrays the spirit and the word of this unanimous decision," she said.