Ireland to 'champion' respect for human rights in Syria at UN Security Council

A migrant wearing a face mask stands behind a fence inside a refugee camp in Kokkinotrimithia outside of capital Nicosia, Cyprus. Cyprus' Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said this week that the east Mediterranean island nation whose closest point to Syria is around 150 kilometers (93 miles) remains first among all other European Union member states with the most asylum applications relative to its population. Picture: AP

Ireland will “champion” respect for human rights in Syria at the UN Security Council where Ireland holds a prominent role in responding to the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged country.

It comes after the UN’s top human rights envoy, Irishwoman Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, warned that an “unknown number” of foreign nationals have died in squalid camps in north east Syria and called on western European countries to do more to bring their citizens back home.