A spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told journalists in New York that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the CAR, Babacar Gaye, met yesterday with local human rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs), who informed him of systematic killings of civilians, rape and other violations by soldiers from the Séléka coalition.

“They also informed the Special Representative that human rights defenders were targeted and threatened by Séléka, and reported several attempts to remove evidence of abuses, looting and destruction of public property, occupation of schools and recruitment of children,” the spokesperson said.

Violence erupted in December 2012 when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized Bangui in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

Meanwhile, the UN Integrated Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic, known by the acronym BINUCA, condemned last week of reports of multiple extrajudicial executions accompanied by torture and mutilation.

Among the identified victims is Ngombet Jerome, an accountant at the Association of Women Lawyers of Central (AFJC), a local NGO.

“These executions were carried on, in all likelihood, at routine checks in the open countryside and in the city of Bangui,” BINUCA said in a statement.

“The Mission called for an immediate stop to these serious violations,” it said in a statement.

BINUCA also called on authorities to immediately open an investigation to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice, and to continue the process of securing Bangui, the statement added.

Speaking publicly earlier this month, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos urged national authorities to urgently re-establish the rule of law so that assistance and access can continue unimpeded, warning that the political crisis gripping CAR has affected its entire population of 4.6 million.

“We are not only watching the destruction of a country but also of its people,” the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos said in her briefing to the Council in New York. “This is a regional crisis not a crisis in Syria with regional consequences, requiring sustained and comprehensive engagement from the international community.”

Amos, who is also the UN Emergency Coordinator was joined today by UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, and Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan ŠImonović, who delivered a statement on behalf of Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

With some 5,000 people being killed every month, all the officials expressed extreme concern about the deepening violence, grave human rights violations, worsening humanitarian situation and particularly, the massive refugee crisis spawned by the spiraling conflict in Syria, which Guterres said was escalating at such a frightening rate that it resembled the outflow resembled the Rwandan genocide of nearly 20 years ago.

The brutal violence has spread significantly in the past months and the speakers feared the violence could ignite the whole region if a political solution is not reached soon.

Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed, almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries and a further 4 million have been internally displaced. In addition, at least 6.8 million Syrian require urgent humanitarian assistance, half of whom are children.

Amos said that while UN agencies continue to deliver assistance, gaps in the humanitarian response remain as access to many affected areas such as Homs and Aleppo is difficult due to security concerns or Government restrictions.

“While we know where those considered most vulnerable are located, humanitarian organizations are still not able to get regular, consistent and unimpeded access to millions of affected people,” she said, adding that the Government has also imposed bureaucratic procedures which have impeded humanitarian workers to access affected areas.

“Some locations remain inaccessible due to active fighting or insecurity. However, there are other areas, sometimes only a few kilometres away from our offices – including in Damascus and Homs – where we are not granted authorization to enter.”

Amos noted that the situation inside the country has worsened, with reports indications an “open and blatant violation of the rules of war, with total disregard for human life and dignity, in a climate of generalized impunity.” Recalling that senior United Nations officials had repeatedly called for a political solution, she said: “We are looking to this Council to exercise a leadership role in that regard.”

In remarks delivered by Imonović, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay echoed Amos’ statement, saying rights violations continue to be perpetrated by both Government and opposition forces. “In Syria today, serious human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity are the rule,” he declared.

“Government forces carry on with indiscriminate and disproportionate shelling and aerial bombardments, using among other weapons tactical ballistic missiles, cluster and thermobaric bombs, all causing extensive damage and casualties if used in densely populated areas.”

He added that “armed opposition groups have also committed acts of torture, abduction and kidnapping, sometimes along sectarian lines.”

Both Amos and Imonović said they were concerned of the rhetoric used by leaders in the region exacerbating sectarian tensions, stressing this increases the risk of sectarian massacres, and urging States to take action to prevent incitement of violence on any grounds.

Imonović underlined that the continuous influx of foreign fighters into Syria to support both sides is endangering the whole region and called on the supply of weapons to both sides to stop. “The solution should be political, not military. States with influence over the parties must work to support an inclusive, Syrian-led political solution to this conflict,” he emphasized.

For his part, Guterres warned that if a political solution is not reached soon “the Syria conflict could ignite the whole region.” In particular, he stressed the heavy burden being borne by countries that are hosting thousands of Syrian refugees, pointing out that this is having a destabilizing influence and could potentially send them over the edge if they do not receive enough support.

Lebanon and Jordan are currently the two most affected countries, hosting over one million refugees between the two.

“Measures must be taken now to mitigate the enormous risks of spill-over and to support the stability of Syria’s neighbours, so as to keep the situation from escalating into a political, security and humanitarian crisis that would move far beyond the international capacity to respond,” he said.

Guterres appealed to international financial institutions, UN organizations and national and regional development agencies to cooperate with the host countries in formulating and supporting community development programmes that will assist these states to cope with the impact of the crisis in Syria.

“Neither Israel nor its proxies can justify the facts on the ground in occupied Palestine,” Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said, “so they distract, distort and defame to allow the violations to go on.”

In a news release, Mr. Falk underlined that “irresponsible and dishonest smear campaigns to discredit those who document these realities do not change the facts on the ground 46 after Israel launched the war that began its occupation of Palestine.”

According to Mr. Falk, Israel is actively confiscating Palestinian water and land, having seized an additional 60,000 square meters of land near Nablus just this week.

“Israel continues to annex Palestinian territory; Israel persists in demolishing Palestinians’ homes and populating Palestine with Israeli citizens; Israel maintains a policy of collectively punishing 1.75 million Palestinians through its imposition of a blockade on the Gaza Strip; and Israel prosecutes its occupation with impunity, refusing to accept the world’s calls to respect international law,” he said.

Israel has detained approximately 750,000 Palestinians since the occupation began 46 years ago, equalling nearly 20 per cent of the entire Palestinian population, Mr. Falk said.

“At the end of May Israel had 4,979 Palestinians, including 236 children, in its prisons. Another fact is that Israel constantly holds around 200 Palestinians in so-called administrative detention, which is a euphemism Israel uses for detention without charges.”

Turning to the situation in Gaza, Mr. Falk recalled that, in mid-June, Palestinians in Gaza will enter the seventh year of living under Israel’s blockade.

“Israel’s blockade is suffocating Palestinians in Gaza, with an incredible 70 per cent of the population dependent on international aid for survival and 90 per cent of the water unfit for human consumption,” he said. “These violations deprive Palestinians of hope and make a mockery of revived peace negotiations.”

In his latest report, Mr. Falk describes the situation in Gaza during his visit in December. He is scheduled to present his findings to the UN Human Rights Council on 10 June.

Independent experts, or special rapporteurs, are appointed by the Geneva-based Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

The abuses by the South Sudan Army (known as the SPLA) and the South Sudan Police Service Auxiliary Force (SSPS) have taken place during Operation Restore Peace, instigated by the government in March 2012.

“Far from bringing security to the region, the SPLA and the police auxiliary forces have committed shocking human rights violations and the authorities are doing very little to stop the abuse,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Africa Director.

“Authorities have accepted that individuals are guilty of these violations and claim that it is not illustrative of the behaviour of the SPLA as a whole, but this cannot be used to justify these violations or the failure to deal with them properly.”

Amnesty International researchers, who travelled to some of the most remote villages in Pibor County in the south-east of Jonglei State, interviewed scores of people who described acts of torture and abuse committed against civilians, including children as young as 18 months old, in addition to having their property looted and crops destroyed.

Researchers spoke to a woman whose brother was shot dead by someone believed to be an auxiliary police officer in front of their home and to two men who were ambushed and shot by soldiers. None of the men who were shot had been armed.

Amnesty International also documented credible reports of rape and attempted rape by SPLA forces. One elderly woman explained how a soldier raped her daughter while other soldiers were beating her and her granddaughter with large sticks. Her granddaughter was left unconscious.

Civilians told Amnesty International that in many villages, soldiers had returned to the area two or three times to disarm the population. In Thangajon village, for example, soldiers came twice in July and once in August.

K.E, a mother of four explained: “I was at home with five other women and our children. They asked us to give guns and we said we didn’t have guns and we were beaten with sticks. They took us to pools behind our homes. One soldier stepped on my neck to push my head down and one stepped on my back so I couldn’t jump out. My brother’s wife was unconscious.”

Amnesty International is calling on the South Sudanese authorities to carry out independent and impartial investigations into allegations of attacks against civilians by members of the armed forces and to monitor effectively the civilian disarmament process.

Amnesty International is aware of five soldiers detained in Pibor County for allegedly committing rape and murder. The lack of a judge advocate and civil prosecutor and judge in Pibor means that investigations and trials have not proceeded.

Gaughran said: “Security forces committing these horrific acts of violence have to be fully held to account.”

Amnesty International also calls upon the United Nations Mission in South Sudan to step up its efforts to protect civilians, including by deploying peacekeepers in areas where there is significant potential for violations by the SPLA.

“All violations of the human rights of the Syrian people at the hands of all parties to the conflict must end. The Government of Syria should immediately cease the use of heavy armaments and shelling of populated areas, as such actions amount to crimes against humanity and possible war crimes,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said in her opening statement to the 20th session of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

“I also urge the international community to overcome divisions and work to end the violence and human rights violations to which the people of Syria have been subjected,” she added, noting that efforts must be made to ensure accountability for all perpetrators, including those who have attacked UN observers on the ground there.

Over the weekend, the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) announced that it had suspended the monitoring activities of its observers due to the intensification of armed violence across the country in recent days.

“This suspension comes while innocent civilians are being killed every day, but the situation is posing also significant risk to UN observers who are now locked down and not patrolling,” Ms. Pillay said. “This follows daily attacks on their convoys seeking to access towns and villages in Syria, including the town of al Haffa on 12 June, to document grave human rights violations.”

The Security Council established UNSMIS in April to monitor the cessation of violence in Syria, as well as monitor and support the full implementation of a six-point peace plan put forward by the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan. Amongst other things, the plan calls for an end to violence and the start of inclusive political dialogue.

The UN estimates that more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria and tens of thousands displaced since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 16 months ago.

“The situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, and the suffering of civilians has increased significantly,” Ms. Pillay said in her Council statement, which also provided a wrap-up of her Office’s activities.

Regarding the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), Ms. Pillay reiterated her appeal to Member States to integrate key human rights considerations into the Rio+20 outcome document, to ensure full coherence between efforts to advance the green economy, and their human rights obligations, including the right to development.

“They [Member States] should recognize that all policies and measures adopted to advance sustainable development must be firmly grounded in, and respectful of, all internationally agreed human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development,” she said, adding that particular care must be taken to prevent and remedy any negative impact the outcome document might have on the human rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Rio+20’s high-level meeting runs 20-22 June, and is expected to bring together over 100 heads of State and government, along with thousands of parliamentarians, mayors, UN officials, chief executive officers and civil society leaders to shape new policies to promote prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection.

The third and final session of Rio+20′s Preparatory Committee concluded on Friday and Brazil, which holds the presidency of the Conference, now has the responsibility for deciding on how to proceed to achieve progress on the economic, social and environmental issues at the centre of the negotiations.

The Brazilian authorities have said that the consultation process on the outcome document is expected to conclude on Monday, after which it will be put forward for adoption by Member States when they meet from Wednesday onwards.

“Bearing in mind the immense tasks confronting the Rio Conference, it is important to recall the cross-cutting nature of human rights,” Ms. Pillay said. “Whether we are talking about peace and security, development, humanitarian action, the struggle against terrorism, climate change, or the environment, these challenges cannot be addressed in isolation from human rights.”

Made up of 47 Member States elected by the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights around the globe and for addressing situations of human rights violations and make recommendations on them.

The Council holds no fewer than three regular sessions a year; this current session ends on 6 July.