Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-02-07-Speech-4-437-000"
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"en.20130207.33.4-437-000"2
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"Mr President, first of all I would like to express my condolences to the families of the medical aid workers who were killed in these recent attacks in Pakistan. On behalf of the Liberals and Democrats, I strongly condemn these attacks. These medical aid workers were involved in a polio-eradication campaign to immunise 33 million children in Pakistan.
This is really important because, as other speakers have mentioned, there are only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic and this is a major contribution to eradicating polio worldwide. Now these attacks are very worrying not only because they have become more prevalent – and they have – but also because they particularly target girls (I am thinking of Malala Yousufzai in this respect), women and aid workers.
It is also because they reflect this false link being made by the militants between aid workers and the ruling power and the military and the forces of the West. What we are seeing here is propaganda being put out by the Taliban and their allies that the aid workers are spies and they are attempting to sterilise Muslim children. This is absolutely terrible and we really need to correct this view.
In this respect I call on the vibrant media and civil society that we see in Pakistan, along with the government of Pakistan, to step up their efforts in communicating about the independence of the medical aid workers. They need a humanitarian space in which to operate, so we really need to counter these rumours and certainly welcome the recent efforts of the Government of Pakistan to ensure their safety during the medical campaigns. We have seen some progress in this respect and it needs to be continued.
I also strongly hope that a formal invitation letter for European election observers will be sent as soon as possible in order for the European Union to send electoral observation support, because a free and fair election, which is just round the corner – we only have a few weeks now before Parliament dissolves – is crucial for the stability and security of Pakistan and the region as a whole. Stability and security in the general sense are vital if we are going to help stop these attacks. So in that respect we do need security and we do need stability."@en1
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