UN human rights chief warns of "all-out sectarian conflict" danger in Syria

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned on Thursday of the danger of allowing Syria to descend into "all-out sectarian conflict" and urged the Security Council to speak with one voice. "It should not take something as drastic as Srebrenica to shake the world into taking serious action to stop this type of conflict," she said. Pillay made the remarks at a press conference after she began her second term as UN human rights chief last month. She is the first High Commissioner for Human Rights that is formally appointed for a second term by the General Assembly. She said the indiscriminate use of heavy weaponry by Syrian government forces and the use of huge bombs by extremist opposition group, and many other violations committed by both sides, may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. She told reporters that in her meeting with UN-Arab League joint special representative to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, she offered and Brahimi expressed willingness to accept human rights advices within his team. Pillay also talked about her plans for the next two years including a cut of current budget by 12 percent for 2013 as the voluntary financial support for the UN human rights system is diminishing. She said her team is to look at alternative sources of funding including the corporate and private sectors. She also briefed reporters about her concerns over human rights situations in certain countries including those in the Middle East, and over attacks on civil society and regional human rights institutions. Pillay, a former UN war crimes judge from South Africa, first took office as the High Commissioner for Human Rights in September, 2008.