Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-01-20-Speech-4-145"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2000-01-20"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Human rights2
dcterms:Language	"es"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20000120.9.4-145"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2000-01-20-Speech-4-1462
lpv:speaker	lp:Miguel Angel Martínez Martínez2
lpv:spokenAs	member; PES (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; Committee on Development and Cooperation (1999-07-21--2002-01-14)3 unknown; Partido Socialista Obrero Español (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Poland Joint Parliamentary Committee (1999-10-08--2002-01-14)3 substitute; AGRI (1999-07-22--2002-01-14)3 member; Members from the European Parliament to the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) (1999-09-14--2001-02-14)3
lpv:translated text	"The case of the Kuwaiti prisoners of war is dramatic. These consist of more than 600 men and women dragged from their country by the defeated Iraqi forces when they withdrew, after having invaded and wrecked Kuwait ten years ago now. These people are perfectly identifiable thanks to a particular circumstance: 4 000 prisoners were being held in Bassora at the end of the war. At that point the Iraqi military, in an initial operation, carried off some of their captives, possibly towards Baghdad. Then the Shiite rebellion erupted in Bassora. It was ferociously repressed, but the remaining 3 000 or more prisoners were able to escape and return to their country. Those who returned were therefore able to precisely identify those others who had been their fellow captives. More then 600 disappearances in a population of 700 000 Kuwaitis is a very high number, and this case has therefore become a genuine national catastrophe. In the meantime, and despite the efforts of the Red Cross and the United Nations, the Iraqi regime has been refusing to provide any information about the fate of these people. The material difficulties of the families have been resolved by the Kuwaiti authorities, but the human tragedy is enormous. I have spoken to parents who have seen four sons disappear, wives who have seen their husbands taken away and young people who were children when their fathers were arrested. To the suffering of the victims themselves, we can therefore add the pain of their families and serious legal problems, such as those of the women who, after so much time, do not know whether they are married or widowed. My conviction is that the international community must demand that Iraq provides a response to these cases. However terrible the response may be, the suffering of the families will be less than the current situation of uncertainty, which is unbearable for them and intolerable to us. I will end by insisting on a point contained in the motion for a resolution. It recommends to the European Union and the Member States that, as a condition for normalising relations with Iraq, the leaders of that country must give answers to the question of the Kuwaiti prisoners of war. For the Group of the Party of European Socialists, this is as important as the demand that Iraq disarms from a nuclear, chemical and biological point of view. Let us hope that our resolution will serve both to encourage those, in Kuwait, who are maintaining pressure and hope, and as a warning to those in Iraq who are responsible for this grave situation."@en1

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