Despite the appeals for united and concerted action to help end the escalating violence in Syria, the Security Council today failed to adopt a resolution that would have threatened sanctions on Damascus owing to the negative votes of permanent members Russia and China.
Eleven of the Council’s 15 members voted in favour of the text, while two others – Pakistan and South Africa – abstained. A veto by any one of the Council’s five permanent members means a resolution cannot be adopted.
Ahead of today’s action Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, along with the Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan, repeatedly expressed the hope that the Council could reach agreement on a course of collective action to end the bloodshed.
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.
– UN News Service
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