The UN Security Council planned to take up a draft resolution Tuesday dealing with the violence in Syria, which was submitted by the European Union countries in the body, dpa reported.
The council president for October, Nigerian Ambassador Joy Ogwu, said the decision whether to vote on the draft would be taken once the 15-nation body had begun its closed-door meeting.
The EU draft was submitted last week by Britain, Germany, Portugal and France, demanding that the Security Council defend and protect human rights of civilian protesters rather than threatening sanctions against Damascus.
The draft received support from major international human rights groups, though some of them criticized the lack of strong measures such as the NATO-type military actions that the council had authorized to support Libyan rebels against Moamer Gaddafi's regime.
Russia and China, which are veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, are opposed to sanctions and use of force against Damascus.
The UN and rights groups estimated that more than 2,700 people have been killed since popular unrest against President Bashir Assad's regime erupted in March.
The pro-democracy demonstrators have been met with harsh military repression by Damascus, which says that hundreds of its security personnel have been killed.
The EU draft strongly condemns the use of military force against civilian demonstrators and demands an immediate end to all violence, urges all sides to act with restraint and calls for holding those responsible accountable for human rights violations.
It "strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities, such as arbitrary executions, excessive use of force and the killing and persecution of protesters and human rights defenders, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances ... torture and ill-treatment of detainees, also of children, and expresses profound regret at the deaths of thousands of people including women and children."
It calls on Damascus to stop using force against civilians, to give access to human rights monitors and humanitarian agencies, and to restore basic services such as access to hospitals.
The draft calls for an inclusive Syrian-led political process aimed at "addressing the legitimate aspirations and concerns of Syria's population."
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