Syrian mission report should be made public

Making the Arab League’s monitoring report public would allow transparency and reduce concerns that the report is being manipulated by Syrian authorities.

21 January 2012, 12:00am

1 min read

Since the monitors began their mission in December, 506 civilians have been killed by security forces adding to the more than 5,000 already killed since the President's violent crackdown on protesters

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The Human Rights Watch said the Arab League’s report on the monitoring mission in Syria should be made public.

The association also urged the UN Security Council to impose sanctions in order to bring the country’s conflict to a halt.

The Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said that publicising the document would address the concerns that the monitoring mission was being manipulated by Syrian authorities.

Transparency of the document would allow authorities to decide whether the mission’s observers should remain in Syria according to the director, Sarah Leah Whitson.

The monitoring mission is expected to be reviewed by Arab League officials in the coming days to see that President Bashar al-Assad’s conformity with the pledge to withdraw forces from cities and release prisoners was being kept.

Ending yesterday, the monitoring mission could be renewed for another month according to regulations between Syria and the league.