GENEVA, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Lebanon has become the third of
Syria’s neighbours after Turkey and Jordan to register more than
100,000 refugees from Syria’s civil war, the U.N. refugee agency
said on Tuesday.

In all, more than 358,000 Syrians fleeing the 19-month-old
conflict have registered in four neighbouring states, including
Iraq, and tens of thousands more have fled but not sought
international assistance, it said.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Colombian military and police forces suspected of committing crimes including murder and torture in the country’s long war could escape prosecution under proposed constitutional reforms, U.N. human rights experts warned on Monday.

In a rare joint letter to Colombia’s government and congress, made public in Geneva, they called for urgent reconsideration of the draft reforms in the interest of fighting impunity and fostering peace.

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States has used excessive force against immigrants along the Mexican border and should cooperate in investigating border killings, including those of many young people, the top United Nations human rights official said on Thursday.

“There have been very many young people, teenagers, who have been killed at the border,” Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told a news conference.

GENEVA, Oct 17 (Reuters) – New clients fleeing Spain’s debt
crisis and havoc in the Middle East have buoyed assets managed
by banks in Geneva even though the outlook for the Swiss safe
haven remains difficult, bankers said on Wednesday.

“Thanks to an inflow of fresh money, the excellent news is
that the amount of funds under management has grown,” Bernard
Droux, president of the Geneva Financial Centre, told an annual
news conference.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Switzerland has blocked nearly one billion Swiss francs ($1.07 billion) in stolen assets linked to dictators in four countries at the centre of the Arab spring – Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia – the Swiss foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

Swiss authorities are cooperating with judicial authorities in Tunisia and Egypt to speed restoration of the funds, but it is expected to take years, said Valentin Zellweger, head of the international law department at the Swiss foreign ministry.

GENEVA (Reuters) – A Chinese-made vaccine is on the verge of being approved for aid agency use by the World Health Organization, a move that would be a first for China and open the door to lucrative regional and global markets, a leading health alliance said on Thursday.

The vaccine is against Japanese encephalitis, a debilitating mosquito-borne disease prevalent in Southeast Asia and the Far East that can be fatal, especially in children.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Carla del Ponte, the International Criminal Court’s former chief prosecutor, was on Friday appointed a member of a United Nations commission investigating war crimes in Syria.

The commission is gathering evidence for possible future trials of individuals and military units suspected of committing abuses in the 18-month-old conflict in which forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are seeking to quell an uprising against him.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Western countries led by the United States called on Bahrain on Wednesday to investigate alleged crimes committed by security forces during mass protests and to allow freedom of expression.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa defended his government’s record at the U.N. Human Rights Council and said it would pursue “unprecedented reforms”.

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. investigators have added more names to a secret list of Syrians suspected of committing war crimes during the 18-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, and warned on Monday more foreign Islamist militants were fighting there.

The human rights investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, said they had gathered “a formidable and extraordinary body of evidence” as Syrian government forces conduct daily air strikes and shelling in indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas.

GENEVA, Sept 17 (Reuters) – United Nations human rights
investigators said on Monday that they had drawn up a new secret
list of Syrians and military units suspected of committing war
crimes who should face criminal prosecution some day.

The independent investigators, led by Paulo Pinheiro, said
they had gathered “a formidable and extraordinary body of
evidence” and urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the
situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC).