UN expert sees China, Russia budging on Syria

GENEVA: The UN's anti-torture expert said Wednesday he believes China and Russia will budge on Syria even though they twice veteod a Security Council resolution condemning Damascus' repression of its people.

"I expect that as permanent members of the Security Council they will eventually live up to their responsibilities," said Juan Mendez, UN's special rapporteur on torture.

"In the past they have referred the cases of Libya and Sudan, either by abstaining or voting in favour, to the International Criminal Court," he told a press conference.

"The Syrian case is showing itself to be serious as Darfur and now more recently, Libya.

"I don't think it's out of the question that eventually the Security Council will act at least on that measure of referring the case to the ICC. I think it's a matter of continuing to insist on it and in the meanwhile hope that the situation will not deteriorate further than it already has."

The United Nations says the Syrian regime's crackdown on dissent has already cost more than 7,500 lives in the past year, and the five major UN powers discussed on Tuesday new efforts to press for a halt to the violence.

The United States is leading work on a text for the badly-divided UN Security Council, where Russia and China have twice used their powers as permanent members to veto Syria resolutions, to international consternation.

A new draft obtained by AFP on Tuesday calls on the Syrian government to immediately cease all violence, withdraw security forces from protest cities and release prisoners held over the protests.

But Russia, which says the opposition should be included in any criticism, had signalled that it considered the draft was still not balanced. (AFP)