The top United Nations human rights official said the situation in Syria was reminiscent of Bosnia's sectarian war and called on world powers on Thursday, Oct 18, to unite in trying to halt the bloodshed, Reuters reported.

"The memories of what happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina should be sufficiently fresh to warn us all of the danger of allowing Syria to descend into an all-out sectarian conflict," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.

"It should not take something as drastic as Srebrenica to shake the world into taking serious action to stop this type of conflict," she told reporters.