France praises UN Human Rights Council report on Syria

France on Friday welcomed a report issued a day earlier by the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), saying it corroborated various sources of information on the abuses of human rights in Syria. A statement from the Foreign Ministry here said that the report shows that abuses have now risen to "an intolerable level of horror" and the repression in Syria could constitute "crimes against humanity." France said it fully supported the recommendations of the UNHRC report and backed the Council's proposal to call for UN Security Council intervention and for the Syrian situation to be examined by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC traditionally addresses "war crimes and crimes against humanity" and has brought indictments against the leaders of Sudan and Libya, among others. The UNHRC is due to meet on Monday in extraordinary session to again examine the situation in Syria. The French Foreign Ministry noted that the forthcoming session was called by a majority of UNHRC members, including member nations like Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. The statement said that Paris wants Monday's meeting to be able to "underline the gravity of the crimes of the Syrian regime, to put in place mechanisms for reinforced investigation and to increase the international pressure to get a halt, without delay, to the crimes committed against the civilian population." France also supports moves for the UN Security Council to get the rapid adoption of a resolution which would impose sanctions on Syria. The French government was already a driving force for sanctions against Syria that were adopted by the European Union.