BEIRUT — The United Nations ratcheted up international pressure on the Syrian government Monday with the release of a report that documents the torture and killing of civilians by state security forces in a step that could prompt action by the U.N. Security Council.
The authors of the report, who interviewed more than 200 people, concluded that Syrian military and security forces committed crimes against humanity in the 8-month-old crackdown on dissent.
The report, by the Independent International Commission on Syria, documents evidence that high-ranking officers across the country issued orders to shoot at civilian residences and unarmed protesters. It also records evidence of systematic torture and the killing of hundreds of children.
The chairman of the commission, Paulo Pinheiro, expressed concern that many crimes committed by security forces were probably going unreported because the government has placed strict limitations on journalists.
“There are killings of children, sexual violence, especially against boys. . . . I think we have been able to demonstrate very scary patterns of human-rights violations on a scale not always revealed by the international media,” Pinheiro said.
Nadim Houry, director of the Beirut office of Human Rights Watch, said the report could persuade some countries that have supported Syrian President Bashar Assad to back measures against him and even encourage Syria to accept international monitors in the most violent areas of the country.
“What is driving the violence in Syria now is that the authorities still believe that there is a military option to crush the protesters,” Houry said. “It is pushing the country into a very dangerous vortex.”
A plan to send monitors into the country, proposed by the 22-member Arab League, was rejected by Syria.
The U.N. report comes as international condemnation of the Assad government grows. On Sunday, the Arab League approved economic sanctions against Syria, and Europe and Turkey are set to tighten existing measures.
Syrian authorities have remained defiant. Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Monday at a news conference in Damascus, “The Arabs don’t want to admit the presence in Syria of groups of armed terrorists who are committing these crimes, abductions and attacks on public places.”
