The United Nations rights panel presented detailed evidence that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by both Bashar al-Assad's forces and its opposition, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Both sides reportedly "committed murder, torture, rape and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, without fear of future punishment,"in latest reports, which will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
"Relentless shelling has killed thousands of civilians and displaced the populations of entire towns," the report said. "Massacres and other unlawful killings are perpetrated with impunity. An untold number of men, children and women have disappeared. Many have died in detention."
The violence has worsened, the panel said, with increasing sectarianism, as well as "the proliferation of weapons and types of weapons used."
The findings came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov prepare to meet in Geneva on Thursday, in an effort to capitalize on Moscow's proposal on Tuesday, which said that its stated goal is to put Syria's chemical weapons under international control. Russia also demands that the U.S. agrees to abandon its pledge to militarily strike at Assad's government.
The panel argued that tensions may soon exacerbate if the United Nations does not fully act. "Its new report says government forces unleashed indiscriminate bombardment by tanks, artillery and aircraft against areas they were unwilling or unable to control," The New York Times also reported.
Also at the United Nations on Wednesday, China did not react favorably to a French Draft Resolution seeking to control Syria's chemical weapons, saying any decisions must be "based on consensus and promote a peaceful resolution," Reuters reported.
The French draft demands that Syria make a complete declaration of its chemical weapons program within 15 days and to open the sites to U.N. inspectors or face penalties.
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