Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-15-Speech-4-214"
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"en.20060615.30.4-214"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak today about the serious human rights situation in Syria.
The Commission is monitoring the situation closely and is disturbed by recent developments.
At the beginning of this year we had some grounds for optimism. The government released hundreds of political prisoners. It also undertook to limit the use of emergency laws by restricting them to activities that threatened state security, and it was preparing to set up a national council on human rights. At the time we warmly welcomed these positive steps.
Today, however, we can only lament the set-backs. The authorities are forcing through further restrictions on basic freedoms. A wave of arrests in May is the most prominent example of this worrying trend, affecting the intellectuals and defenders of human rights who signed the declarations of Damascus and Beirut.
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, both you and I know some of these representatives of civil society personally. They have peaceful intentions. We cannot accept the persecution and intimidation of human rights defenders and government critics, or arbitrary imprisonment and the use of solitary confinement. Syria does not respect its obligations arising from the UN treaties on civil and political rights. The EU therefore responded decisively on 19 May with a public declaration calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners.
The Commission has fears particularly because one of the persons imprisoned is leading a project within the framework of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights.
Making public declarations is not enough, of course. We must monitor individual cases and increase our involvement with Syrian partners. The fact that there is no valid Euro-Mediterranean association agreement for Syria means that we are lacking the political basis for an open resolution of these issues with the government, as is the case with other countries. Together with embassies of the Member States in Damascus, however, we are making full use of diplomatic channels and we will continue to do so.
I feel quite sure that the European Parliament will be our unswerving ally in supporting these efforts."@en1
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