“Pillay said that the number released by her office is more than double the number documented a year ago,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was quoted as saying by The Hindu at a daily press briefing

“But, she said, tragically, the new figure is probably underestimates the real total number of people killed,” Xinhua reported.

“Pillay said she deeply regrets that, due to the onset of so many other armed conflicts, the fighting in Syria and its impact on millions of civilians has dropped off the international radar,” Dujarric said.

She said it was “scandalous” that the predicament of so many people is no longer attracting attention, and allowed to continue with no end in sight, affecting neighbouring Iraq and Lebanon.

“The killers, destroyers and torturers in Syria have been empowered and emboldened by the international paralysis,” she said.

The figure was obtained by cross-checking a combined list of 318,910 reported killings, fully identified by the name of the victim, as well as the date and location of the death. According to Pillay’s office, any reported killing that did not include at least these three elements was excluded.

The list was compiled using datasets from five different sources, three of which have reported killings throughout the whole three-year period, and two of which - including the government of Syria - cover only part of the period.

Nearly 52,000 other reporter killings did not contain sufficient information to be counted, according to the study. The authors added that there is a “strong likelihood” that a significant number of killings may not have been reported at all.

The majority of the victims documented were men, with around 9. 3 per cent women. In addition, the list includes 8,803 minors, including 2,165 children under the age of 10.