According to a new report by the non-profit group Human Rights Watch, women and girls are being seriously abused in Syria. The UN says it will review the situation. CCTV’s Nick Harper reports from UN headquarters in New York.

The report makes for shocking reading. It details the personal testimonies of 17 Syrian women who have endured more than three years of fighting.

Human Rights Watch, a group that advocates for human rights around the world, has the women tell, in their own words, how they were arrested, detained, sexually and physically abused, and even tortured.

It says these acts were carried out by both the Syrian government and opposition forces. One of the women, a 19-year-old university student was tortured with electric shocks.

Human Rights Watch report: Abuse on Syrian women rising

According to a new report by the non-profit group Human Rights Watch, women and girls are being seriously abused in Syria. The UN says it will review the situation. CCTV's Nick Harper reports from UN headquarters in New York.

Another was left paralyzed after she was shot by a sniper while she was out grocery shopping. Yet another lost four of her five children in a barrel bomb attack and is now living as a refugee in Turkey.

Of course Human Rights Watch is making the point that’s it’s not just these women. They are being used as an example of the conditions all women in Syria are facing.

The report says these women quote “have not been spared any aspect of the brutality of the Syrian conflict”.

The United Nations is meeting in Geneva on Friday to review the situation for women in Syria. However, Human Rights Watch wants the UN Security Council to do more. It wants it to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on Syria and well as referring the conflict to the International Criminal Court.

However, a resolution on that referral failed in May when both Russia and China vetoed the vote. All of this comes on the same day the United Nations is warning refugee numbers could rise dramatically from the current 2.9 million to more than 3.5 million by the end of this year.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres says security in Lebanon, which already hosts more than a million refugees, is being threatened and the extra refugee numbers could destabilize the entire region.

For more on the Human Rights Watch report, CCTV was joined by Hillary Margolis. She is the author of the report and a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Hillary Margolis talks Human Rights Watch report on Syrian women

For more on the Human Rights Watch report, CCTV was joined by Hillary Margolis. She is the author of the report and a researcher for Human Rights Watch.

The deaf and blind face obstacles and advocates say more must be done to help protect their rights. CCTV’s Mike Walter interviews Shantha Rau Barriga, director of the disability rights program at Human Rights Watch, to talk about the challenges they face and what could be done to address them.

Shantha Rau on the obstacles faced by blind and deaf

The deaf and blind face obstacles and advocates say more must be done to help protect their rights. CCTV's Mike Walter interviews Shantha Rau Barriga, director of the disability rights program at Human Rights Watch, to talk about the challenges they face and what could be done to address them.