(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN

Torture. Rape. Sexual violence against civilians.

The UN is accusing embattled Syria of “crimes against humanity.”

The BBC has video of the independent panel’s findings in its investigation of the country’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.

“Reliable sources indicated that 256 children had been killed by state forces as of 9 November. Torture, sexual violence and ill treatment were inflicted on civilians suspected of sympathy with the protesters, regardless of their gender or age.”

The UN commission interviewed more than 200 victims and witnesses. Syrian officials didn’t immediately address the report, and The Telegraph’s David Blair says the international community has only a few options in response.

“Syria has never signed the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court in 2002. Consequently, the only legal avenue for Mr Assad's regime to be held accountable would be for the Security Council to ask the ICC's chief prosecutor to investigate the situation. But Russia or China, Syria's only allies on the Security Council, could veto any such attempt.”

But pressure is mounting on Syrian President Bashar al Assad. CNN reports, though he remains defiant, the country now faces economic sanctions.

“Meeting over the weekend, Arab League ministers agreed to punish Syria for its violent crackdown against dissidents. They voted to freeze Syrian government assets to stop dealings with Syrian central bank and to ban high-profile Syrian officials from visiting Arab nations.”

International coverage of the UN report comes largely from Western media sources.

No mention of the commission’s findings on the Syrian news agency SANA’s website. But it does touch on the Arab League’s sanctions, striking a defiant tone and warning against foreign interference.

“...the Syrian people stand by the Syrian leadership and that ‘Syria will remain the homeland of steadfastness at whose borders all conspiracies are destroyed’.”

But the UN says it left room for the Syrian government’s side of the story in its report. Commission participant Yakin Erturk tells Al Jazeera, Syria isn’t allowing for international observers or media inside the country, and that makes getting at the truth difficult.

ERTURK: “Evidence that we have suggests that there was knowledge of and orders coming from high-ranking officials and officers in the Army. …
I think the only way to put an end to the violence and ensure that the different claims can be sufficiently investigated is to allow outside independent observers into the country.”

According to the BBC, some 3,500 people have died in Syria since March.