Rights violations in Syria soar in number, pace, scale: UN

GENEVA - Agence Frence-Presse

Army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a Syrian Army post only 50 meters away as they man a position in the Old City of Aleppo September 16, 2012. More than 27,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's rule erupted in March last year, the Britain-based Observatory estimates. The United Nations puts the toll at 20,000. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI

Serious human rights violations have soared in Syria in recent weeks, the head of a UN commission tasked with probing the abuses said Monday.
 
"Gross violations of human rights have grown in number, in pace and in scale," Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a Brazilian who heads the United Nations' Independent Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria, told diplomats gathered in Geneva.

UN will not publish names of suspected Syrian war criminals

The commission however will not publish the names of the suspected war criminals.
 
"The Commission considers it improper to publicly release the names due to the lower standard of proof employed by commissions of inquiry as compared to a court of law," Pinheiro said.