UN: Syria crimes evidence 'indicates' Assad role

The lists “rightly belongs to the people who suffered violations,” she said, but they also must be kept sealed “to preserve the presumption of innocence” until proper judicial probes can be done that could lead to trial.

Pillay said Syria and North Korea—the two countries being probed by a U.N. investigative panel—represent two of the world's worst human rights violations, but she also cited concerns with Central African Republic, Bangladesh and other regions.

Other places that require the world's attention, she said, are the large-scale expulsions of migrants from Saudi Arabia, the high number of migrant laborer deaths building World Cup stadiums in Qatar, and continuing political exploitation of xenophobia and racism in Europe and other developed regions.