GENEVA ? Syrian authorities cracking down on opposition protesters have killed at least 307 children, the United Nation's human rights chief said Friday, urging world powers to refer these and other allegations of Syrian "crimes against humanity" to the International Criminal Court.
Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said fresh reports from Syria ? including the updated death toll for children from less than a week ago ? reinforced the need for the Security Council to submit the situation in the country to the Hague-based court.
"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Pillay told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Syria's President Bashar Assad ? trying to defeat an 8-month-old revolt challenging his autocratic rule ? faces widespread international condemnation at the growing death toll.
A draft resolution backed by African, European, Asian, Arab and American members of the 47-nation rights council calls for the establishment of a special investigator on Syria, but leaves open the issue of whether the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful arm, should refer the country to the ICC.
The council's session Friday comes amid mounting international pressure on Syria. The U.N. says the nation is on the verge of civil war, and the Arab League, European Union, Turkey and the United States have all approved measures to sanction the Syrian economy, which relies on oil and tourism.
Russia and China have held back support for the resolution. The two permanent members of the Security Council have condemned the bloodshed, but are staunchly resisting further international pressure on Syria.
Russia's ambassador Valery Loshchinin, whose nation has sold arms to Syria, claimed Friday that opposition groups are getting weapons from outside forces.
Loshchinin did not provide further details, but another council diplomat told The Associated Press it is commonly known the arms are coming through Turkey. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Now, we hear, unfortunately, that the conflict in Syria continues to be fueled by outside forces who are interested in further destabilizing the situation," Loshchinin told the council.
"Armed terrorist and extremist groups are being armed and organized, supplied with weapons and money from abroad," he said. "The situation in Syria must be resolved in strict observance of international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter."
Turkey's ambassador Oguz Demiralp said the nation has become a "major threat to peace and stability" and Assad should step down. "We want to see the bloody quagmire in Syria come to an end," he told the council.
British ambassador Peter Gooderham ? whose nation is one of the Security Council's five permanent members with veto power ? told the AP that the sanctions imposed on Syria by the Arab League and its lead in calling for the special session were crucial for putting pressure on the Assad regime.
"We know that the situation on the ground is deteriorating," French ambassador Jean-Baptiste Mattei told the AP. "So we have to fully mobilize all the instruments at our disposal, and the Human Rights Council is part of what we can do."
Mattei said France, another permanent Security Council member, supports referring the situation in Syria to the ICC and failure to do so would be "a pity and a shame for the international community."
Two other veto-wielding Security Council members, China and Russia, have usually blocked these types of actions based on a recurring argument that too much international pressure can inflame crises and Western nations are too eager to encroach on nations' sovereignty.
Pillay said her office had received reliable information that the death toll since the start of the eight-month uprising was now "much more" than 4,000.
"The Syrian authorities' continual ruthless repression, if not stopped now, can drive the country into a full-fledged civil war," she said.
An independent panel's report to the Human Rights Council this week said it found widespread evidence of "crimes against humanity" and use of excessive force against civilians.
The chairman of the international commission of inquiry, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a Brazilian professor, told the council Friday that the 307 children killed included 262 boys and 45 girls. He said November was the deadliest month so far ? with 56 children killed.
Syria's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Fayssal al-Hamwi, responded that any U.N. action would only deepen the crisis and Pinheiro's panel "fell into the same trap" as other outside observers siding against the government.
"We strongly condemn the fact that the international commission on Syria was not objective in the report," he told diplomats. "The solution cannot come from the corridors of the international community."
But the U.S. ambassador, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe and other nations likened the Syrian government's actions to mass atrocities.
"Rather than respond to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people, Assad and his inner circle assault a peaceful opposition with escalating violence and terror," Donahoe said.
"The Syrian government stokes fears in minority communities with propaganda about foreign conspiracies and domestic terrorism," she said. "The propaganda is fooling no one: the regime is driving the cycle of violence and sectarianism."
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Frank Jordans contributed to this report.
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